The announcement that King Charles will undergo a procedure next week to treat an enlarged prostate has led to a rise in searches for information about the condition, it has emerged.
The NHS website’s page on prostate enlargement received 11 times more visits on Wednesday than on the previous day, after Buckingham Palace’s announcement that “in common with thousands of men each year” the king was receiving treatment. One person visited the site every five seconds, or 16,410 in total, NHS England said.
The king, who is at his private Aberdeenshire home, Birkhall, preparing for treatment, has taken a break from his public duties on doctor’s advice and cancelled planned meetings at Dumfries House in Ayrshire on Thursday.
Queen Camilla continued with a solo visit to Aberdeen Art Gallery. Asked by the city’s lord provost, David Cameron, how her husband was doing, she said: “He’s fine, thank you very much. Looking forward to getting back to work.”
Separately, the Princess of Wales was visited by her husband, Prince William, on her third day in a private London hospital after planned abdominal surgery.
The prince was seen driving from the London Clinic in Marylebone shortly after midday on Thursday, accompanied by his security team.
Catherine, 42, is expected to spend between 10 and 14 days in hospital after her surgery and will not resume public duties for several months.
Unlike the king, the nature of her condition has not been revealed and she has requested that her “private medical information” remains confidential. The palace has indicated, however, that there are no concerns about cancer.
William has also cleared his diary for an unspecified time to help care for his wife and their three children, who are aged between five and 10.
While acknowledging the royals’ right to medical privacy, the unexpected twin announcements have been interpreted as marking a new era of openness in the royal family – in contrast to the secrecy sometimes preferred during the later years of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip.
In particular, the king’s decision to allow details of his procedure to be made public was welcomed by campaigners seeking to raise awareness. “We’re thankful to the king for sharing that he is to be treated in hospital next week for an enlarged prostate,” said Chiara de Biase, the director of support and influencing at the charity Prostate Cancer UK.
“Raising awareness of prostate health is very important and already we are seeing that compared to the same 24-hour period last week, the number of people completing Prostate Cancer UK’s online risk checker is up by over 97%.”