Brave King Charles led D-Day commemorations less than 24 hours after being in hospital for cancer treatment
DETERMINED King Charles led D-Day commemorations despite being in hospital for cancer treatment less than 24 hours earlier, The Sun can reveal.
The 75-year-old monarch was in a London hospital on Tuesday but remained keen to join veterans the next day and “lead from the front”.
He travelled to Portsmouth on Wednesday morning and delivered an eight-minute address that left tears in Queen Camilla’s eye.
On medical advice, his appearance was reduced by 45 minutes.
But he still found the time to mingle with some of the 21 D-Day heroes invited to the televised event.
The “carefully calibrated” arrangements meant Charles was then able to travel on 125 miles to Normandy for 80th anniversary ceremonies.
READ MORE ON D-DAY
There — aided again by Camilla — he gave a passionate speech at the British Normandy Memorial where the names of 22,442 heroes who died are etched.
He hailed the generation who “did not flinch” when the moment to act came. And he urged the world to learn from the past, calling on free nations to “stand together to oppose tyranny”.
He then met more veterans and told them that he was “doing well”.
It is understood doctors had ordered “compromises” — which saw Prince William step in for his father and join more than 25 world leaders at the international ceremony on Omaha Beach just hours later.
This let Charles return after three gruelling days.
The Omaha Beach commemorations were due to run from 3.30pm until 5.30pm but delays meant many world leaders did not leave until 7pm. And the King’s health team were aware that a similar ceremony marking 75 years of D-Day over-ran by two hours in 2019.
Royal sources said: “All events were looked at in consultation with doctors. They were extremely long days and some compromises had to be made.”
Meanwhile William’s appearances at a string of D-Day events, and the society wedding of billionaire pal Hugh Grosvenor, marked his busiest period of engagements since news of wife Kate’s health issues emerged in January.
A source close to William said: “As Prince of Wales, he has a strong sense of wanting to support his father, both at home and overseas.”
Charles will attend the King’s Foundation Awards at St James’s Palace, London, next Tuesday.
He and Camilla are also expected to take part in a series of other functions and engagements in the weeks ahead, including a garden party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, during so-called Scotland week.
This year it falls in General Election week, so the King must be back on Friday, July 5, to officially ask whoever wins to form a new government.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Charles spent three nights in hospital in January with an enlarged prostate and tests later revealed he had cancer.
The Sun revealed in April how doctors were so impressed with his recovery progress that he had been cleared to return to carefully prepared front-line duties.
