‘I’m still alive’, says King at final public engagement before Christmas
The King joked that he was “still alive” during his final public outing before Christmas.
The King and Queen attended a reception in celebration of community cohesion at Waltham Forest Town Hall in east London, where they greeted crowds gathered outside.
Asked “how are you?” by Harvinder Rattan, a Sikh faith representative, the King smiled as he replied: “I’m still alive.”
The visit comes as Buckingham Palace sources confirmed the monarch’s cancer treatment will continue into next year but is “moving in a positive direction.”
The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February and has undergone weekly treatment ever since, barring a brief pause during a visit to Australia.
While his treatment cycle will continue into 2025, aides insisted there had been no change to his condition and that it was simply a case of maintaining “the very encouraging status quo”.
The pair appeared in good spirits in east London, where the Queen handed two bags of Buckingham Palace teddy bears to Citizens UK to donate to children, while a food package including Waitrose cartons of long-life milk, Christmas puddings, custard and mince pies was left on the King’s behalf for a food bank.
Monwara Ali, the chief executive of Waltham Forest Community Hub, gave the King a high-five and Alexandra Martinelli-Kinmonth, of The Together Space charity, made him a cup of tea.
“He smiled and said he hoped it had some honey in, which it did,” she said.
Outside, the monarch enjoyed a rendition by A Little Choir of Joy, a children’s choir made up of eight to 12-year-olds from across schools in the borough before chatting to well-wishers.
The Queen, who has only recently recovered from a bout of pneumonia, waited in the car.
It marked the King’s final official engagement before he headed to his Sandringham estate in Norfolk for the Christmas break.
He is planning to embark on a full programme of both UK and overseas engagements next year, with a visit to Auschwitz scheduled for Jan 27, to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
He is also expected to visit Italy in the spring on behalf of the Government.
The King’s cancer diagnosis came after undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate.
He was treated at The London Clinic at the same time as his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, who had major abdominal surgery.
Both the King and the Princess were discharged from the hospital on Jan 29 – the monarch waved as he left via the front door while the Princess was spirited home unseen.
Both were said to be well and their respective treatments successful. However, both would later face the devastating news that cancer had been found during surgery.
The King immediately began a course of regular treatment and public engagements were postponed on medical advice.
But he remained “wholly positive” and continued working behind closed doors.
He returned to public-facing events in late April and even managed a ten-day tour of Australia and Samoa in October, said to have been the “perfect tonic”.
A palace spokesman said on his return: “We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms.”
