King Charles spoke about his own experience as a cancer patient on Wednesday, during a private reception he and Queen Camilla hosted at Buckingham Palace.

The royals welcomed people working in community-based cancer organizations and initiatives, with the king personally expressing gratitude for their dedicated work.

“Each diagnosis, each new case, will be a daunting and at times frightening experience for those individuals and their loved ones,” the king said in his speech. “But as one among those statistics myself, I can vouch for the fact that it can also be an experience that brings into sharp focus the very best of humanity.”

Charles, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer last year, said his experience “has certainly given me an even deeper appreciation of the extraordinary work” done by those he was hosting at the reception.

“And it has reinforced what I have long observed during these visits — that the darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion,” he said.

To those gathered on Wednesday night, the king added, “You have my whole family’s deepest admiration and gratitude.”

He also sent out a message “to those who may be receiving such upsetting news today, tomorrow or at any point in the future.”

“I can only echo the departing words of the late Dame Deborah James, whose parents I am delighted to have with us here this evening, and whose example stands as an inspiration to us all, in sickness and in health: ‘Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope,’” he said. “I am so very grateful for all that you do.”

Charles stepped back from royal responsibilities shortly after his diagnosis last February, but made his return to public duties in April 2024.

Although Charles remains occupied with work ― including international engagements ― Buckingham Palace disclosed that the monarch was briefly hospitalized in late March.

The palace said in a statement at the time that the king was canceling engagements after experiencing “temporary side effects” due to a cancer-related treatment.

“His majesty has now returned to Clarence House and as a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice, tomorrow’s diary program will also be rescheduled,” the palace said. “His majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.”

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry was treated unfairly when he was stripped of his British security detail, his attorney told appeals court judges Tuesday.

Harry, whose rare appearance in court indicated the case’s importance to him, lost his government-funded protection in February 2020 after he stepped down from his role as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S.

A High Court judge ruled last year that a government panel’s decision to provide “bespoke” security for the Duke of Sussex on an as-needed basis was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified.

But attorney Shaheed Fatima argued that a group that evaluated Harry’s security needs failed to follow its own process and perform a risk management assessment.

“The appellant does not accept that bespoke means better,” Fatima said. “In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.”

A lawyer for the government said Harry’s argument in the lower court was accurately found to have been based on an “inappropriate, formalist interpretation” of the government’s security review that was misconceived.

“The appeal is fairly to be characterized in the same way,” attorney James Eadie said. “It involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees, advancing propositions available only by reading small parts of the evidence, and now the judgment, out of context and ignoring the totality of the picture.”

The hearing before three Court of Appeal justices is due to end Wednesday and a written decision is expected later. While the hearing was livestreamed, some was to be conducted behind closed doors to discuss sensitive security details.

Harry arrived at court with a small security detail supplemented with court officers. He waved to cameras before disappearing into a private entrance.

Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, has bucked royal family convention by taking the government and tabloid press to court, where he has a mixed record.

But Harry rarely shows up to court hearings, making only a few appearances in the past two years. That included the trial of one of his phone hacking cases against the British tabloids when he was the first senior member of the royal family to enter the witness box in more than a century.

Harry claimed he and his family are endangered when visiting his homeland because of hostility aimed at him and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on social media and through relentless hounding by news media.

After being denied government-sponsored protection, Harry faced at least two serious security threats, his lawyer said in court papers. Al-Qaida had published a document that said Harry’s assassination would please Muslims, and he and his wife were involved in a dangerous pursuit by paparazzi in New York.

He lost a related court case in which he sought permission to privately pay for a police detail when in the U.K. but a judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.”

Harry also dropped a libel case against the publisher of the Daily Mail for an article that said he had tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security.

But he won a significant victory at trial in 2023 against the publisher of the Daily Mirror when a judge found that phone hacking at the tabloid was “widespread and habitual.” He claimed a “monumental” victory in January when Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.

He has a similar case pending against the publisher of the Mail.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III waved to well-wishers in central London on Friday as he headed for his country estate in western England a day after he was briefly hospitalized because of side effects from a scheduled cancer treatment.

Charles canceled planned engagements on Thursday afternoon and Friday on the advice of his doctors, Buckingham Palace said, without providing details about the “temporary side effects” that he experienced.

But the episode was a reminder that the king is 76 and continues to undergo treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer diagnosed more than a year ago.

That reality has slipped away from the collective consciousness since last spring, when Charles returned to public duties after stepping away for almost three months to focus on his initial treatment and recovery.

In the intervening months, he has attended D-Day commemoration events in France, presided over the State Opening of Parliament and even embarked on a nine-day visit to Australia and Samoa.

But during the early stages of his treatment, Charles continued fulfilling his constitutional duties as head of state, including reviewing government papers and meeting with the prime minister.

Here’s a brief rundown of what we know about the king’s health.

The king went to the London Clinic on Thursday morning for a scheduled cancer treatment. The clinic is a private hospital in central London, where Charles has been receiving treatment since his diagnosis in February 2024.

“Following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning, the king experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “His majesty’s afternoon engagements were therefore postponed.”

The king then returned to his home at Clarence House, where he reviewed papers and made calls, the palace said. Queen Camilla didn’t join him at the hospital.

“His majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” the palace said in a statement.

The king is expected to press ahead with his work in the coming days, including a state visit to Italy scheduled for early April.

Palace officials have recognized that it’s better to release some information about the king’s health, rather than allow media speculation to fill the void when he’s forced to cancel scheduled events.

But they have tried to walk a fine line, seeking to balance the public’s legitimate interest in the health of the head of state with Charles’ right to privacy.

This was seen first in January 2024, when the palace announced Charles was being treated for an enlarged prostate, followed by the cancer diagnosis a few weeks later.

The decision to talk about the king’s health issues marked a departure from past palace protocols. For example, when Queen Elizabeth II began missing events toward the end of her life, royal officials repeatedly said that she was suffering from “mobility issues,” without providing further details. Her death certificate listed the cause as “old age.”

The public was unaware that Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56. Some historians suggest that even the king wasn’t told about the gravity of his condition.

Health authorities have applauded the king’s openness, saying his disclosures saved lives by encouraging thousands of men to have prostate exams.

Royal experts say Charles’ candor has also brought him closer to the public by demonstrating that he faces the same kinds of challenges that they do. Health is, after all, the great leveler.

Charles’ busy schedule is a reminder that this is a man who waited around seven decades to become monarch and he wants to make the most of it.

The king has been open about his desire to demonstrate that the monarchy still has a role to play as a symbol of unity and tradition in the sometimes fractious, multicultural nation that is 21st-century Britain.

And the job of a modern king is to take part in a whirl of public events, from the pageantry of state occasions when he wears the crown and rides through the streets of London in a horse-drawn carriage to more mundane appearances such as opening public buildings or handing out awards for public service.

Charles took part in 372 public engagements last year, even after stepping aside for almost three months because of cancer treatment, according to data compiled by The Times of London newspaper. That made him the second-busiest royal behind his sister, Princes Anne, who had 474 engagements.

Charles has long been known as a workaholic, and Queen Camilla said last year that he “won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told.” During her Reading Room literary festival in July, the queen told author Lee Child that her husband was “doing fine,” but hadn’t heeded her advice to curtail his schedule.

Prince Harry once said that his father worked so hard that he would fall asleep at his desk and wake up with bits of paper stuck to his face.

The king’s busy schedule has obscured the fact that he is an older man with cancer, said Robert Hardman, author of “Charles III: New King, New Court, the Inside Story.”

“We’ve seen him go back to normal,” Hardman told the BBC on Friday.

“I think this is sort of a reminder that this is a head of state undergoing treatment for cancer, because I think a lot of us tended to forget it.”