King’s cancer message will be life-saving, predicts his friend and biographer

King Charles’s message concerning his cancer recovery has been lauded as potentially "life-saving" by his friend and authorised biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby.

The 81-year-old broadcaster shared his thoughts on the BBC’s Today programme on Saturday, following the King’s announcement on Friday that he plans to reduce his cancer treatment in the new year.

In a video message supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, Charles highlighted that early diagnosis had enabled him to "continue leading a full and active life, even while undergoing treatment," and encouraged millions to take up available screenings for the disease.

“This was a remarkable thing for a monarch to do,” Mr Dimbleby told Today.

“It’s worth just bearing this in mind, in the long context of our relationship with our royal family, it’s not very often that a monarch would speak so openly, so directly, about a very personal health issue.

“It’s not an easy thing to come and say publicly, oh yes, I just want you to know I’ve got this cancer or that cancer.

“It takes guts, and the fact that he came out and did that will save lives, and people will be less frightened of saying ‘we must go and get a test’.”

Mr Dimbleby told Times Radio about his father, the journalist and broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who died at the age of 52 from testicular cancer at a time when the disease was not openly discussed.

“He’d been too embarrassed by the symptoms of testicular cancer, and he didn’t go until it was late in the day when he reported it.

“However, he lived on and he worked flat out until a few months before his death, and in that time, no-one knew.

“People said, isn’t he looking a bit gaunt? That was about all there was.

“We’ve advanced so far from that, but we need to go further, and the King is very, very aware of that.

“Huge advances make it much more likely to live for a long time or cure cancers, but only if people have early treatment.”

Mr Dimbleby also described the King’s commitment to his cancer treatment, despite his frustration that it meant he had to take time away from his royal duties.

“I wouldn’t regard him as a good patient, in the sense he says ‘oh yes, another day of treatment coming up’,” Mr Dimbleby told Times Radio.

“On the contrary, he found it irritating.

“It got in the way of his programme, because, you know, he’s so aware that the programme matters. He really cares for it.”