The royals rally round as King Charles and the Princess of Wales leave hospital on the same day to continue their recuperation following a double health scare
WORDS: REBECCA RUSSELL
ROAD TO RECOVERY
King Charles waved to well-wishers as he left The London Clinic in Marylebone last week after a three-night stay spent recuperating from surgery to correct an enlarged prostate. Queen Camilla looked happy and relaxed as the couple headed to Clarence House, no doubt feeling huge relief that a worrying episode was over and she could welcome her beloved husband back home again.
The difficult days that the Queen spent apart from the King will have made her all the more determined to be by his side. Camilla, 76, “visited him so much because she loves him and felt lost without him”, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond tells OK!.
“It seemed very natural for Camilla to stay at the hospital all day until the operation was over and when he was in recovery, and to pop back to share supper with her man each day that he was there,” she says.
“I think it was utterly endearing that they behaved like a ‘normal’ couple. I always think of them as a pair of old, comfy slippers – completely content in one another’s company, and rather lost when one of them is absent.”
Camilla’s goal throughout her many visits is likely to have been to keep the workaholic King, 75, from thinking about his official role, and instead focusing on his recovery.
“There would have been the usual tittle-tattle between husband and wife about the gardens and how the grandchildren had been getting on, rather than any official matters,” says Jennie.
“Camilla probably arrived with an extra book, maybe a sweet treat or two and some home comforts to make the stay as happy as possible.”
Prostate surgery often has a short recovery period and King Charles’ extended hospital admission came as a surprise, but Jennie explains this would have been nothing more than an “abundance of caution”.
It was the second health worry for the royals recently as the Princess of Wales, 42, spent almost two weeks at the same hospital recovering from abdominal surgery. She returned to the family’s home, Adelaide Cottage, on the same day her father-in-law left hospital.
While this has clearly been a stressful time for the family, one positive was the King’s decision to share his diagnosis and encourage other men to have themselves che
