Queen Camilla reveals she was "longing to let it out" about King Charles's cancer diagnosis in new Maggie's film
Queen Camilla has spoken publicly for the first time about how difficult she found it to keep King Charles's cancer diagnosis secret before it was announced to the public.
In a seven-minute film released on Wednesday on the royal family's and Maggie's YouTube channels, the Queen said she was "longing to let it out" during an official visit to a Maggie's centre in January 2024 — five days before Buckingham Palace made the King's diagnosis public on 5 February 2024 The Guardian.
The film was recorded at Clarence House in a conversation with Maggie's chief executive Dame Laura Lee. It was produced in collaboration with the charity to mark its 30th anniversary and to highlight the free emotional and practical support it offers cancer patients and their families The Guardian.
Maggie's runs 27 drop-in centres positioned near NHS hospitals across the UK. The charity provides support not only to patients but to relatives and to men who are reluctant to seek help — a group Camilla specifically wanted to reach through the film The Guardian.
The visit Camilla described took place on 31 January 2024, when she launched the new Maggie's centre at the Royal Free hospital in London. At that point, the King's diagnosis was known only within a tight circle. Buckingham Palace had not yet confirmed it. Five days later, the Palace issued its statement.
In the film, Camilla also described the King's way of coping with illness. She said Charles has always pushed on with official duties rather than stepping back BBC News. King Charles returned to public-facing engagements in April 2024, less than three months after his cancer treatment began.
What gives the film its weight is the timing. Camilla was performing a public engagement — opening a cancer support centre — while carrying a private diagnosis she could not yet share. The film lets her talk about that tension in her own words, two and a half years after the event.
Maggie's published its own item on its website confirming that the Queen spoke for the first time about the emotional visit Maggie's. The charity was founded in 1996 and named after Maggie Keswick Jencks, who wanted people affected by cancer to have somewhere warm and welcoming to turn to beyond the hospital ward.
The full film remains available on both the royal family's YouTube channel and Maggie's YouTube channel.
