King Charles ‘frustrated’ by time recovery is taking, his nephew says

Peter Phillips during the televised interview with Sky News Australia (Picture: Sky News)

The King is in ‘good spirits’ after his cancer treatment but frustrated that he ‘can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do’, his nephew said.

In a rare update on King Charles’ condition after he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer, Peter Phillips said he was ‘pushing’ his staff to agree he can return to duties.

The son of the King’s sister Princess Anne said: ‘I think ultimately he’s hugely frustrated.

‘But he is very pragmatic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself.’

‘But at the same time he is always pushing his staff and everybody – his doctors and nurses – to be able to say “actually can I do this, can I do that?”‘

Mr Phillips made the comments in a televised interview with Sky News Australia.

He added: ‘I think the overriding message would be that he’s obviously very keen to get back to a form of normality and is probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than probably he would want it to.’

Charles has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer since early February, after it was discovered incidentally during treatment for an enlarged prostate.

On Friday, Kate Middleton revealed she was also undergoing cancer treatment and having preventative chemotherapy.

There has been an outpouring of support since, including from a schoolgirl comforted herself by the Princess of Wales while undergoing chemotherapy for blood cancer, who urged her to ‘fight it like I did’.

Peter Phillips, the son of Anne, 73, and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, talked about his life and family in general during the interview.

Speaking of his mother, he said: ‘I think in the past she has not always been the media’s favourite so to speak.

King Charles III reading some of the ‘get well soon’ cards he received after his diagnosis (Picture: Getty)

But she’s never really let that bother her. She just keeps her head down the whole time and keeps working away and leaves others to worry about column inches.’

The eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II added that it was ‘pretty remarkable’ that his mother was still carrying out overseas trips in her 70s.

Mr Phillips said the ‘work ethic’ of his parents had been hugely influential for him and his sister Zara Tindall.

He added: ‘Both of them are incredibly hard working and both in their 70s they’re still working a lot harder than either of them probably expected.

‘But then as my mother always says – from that perspective, they had pretty good role models from my grandparents who were still working in their 90s.

‘So everyone has a huge amount to live up to and ultimately they all live by example.’

He added that Anne ‘really valued’ her home time to be able ‘to relax and just get to some form of normality’.

Mr Phillips was on a visit to Australia to represent the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.

He said the royal family had a ‘huge affinity’ with Australia, adding ‘all of us have friends over here’.

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