King Charles will pause his cancer treatment during his high-profile tour to Australia next week.
Royal doctors gave Charles, 75, permission to briefly halt the weekly cycle in order to fly around the world for his key visit which is followed by a state visit to Samoa.
The monarch, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease in February, will receive treatment up until his departure, and resume the outpatient appointments when he returns to the UK, the Daily Mail reported.
He will be away for 11 days, with the tour covering nine days with two days of travel either side, and his entourage will include, as is usual for Charles’s official overseas visits, his doctor.
The long-haul trip with the Queen is a major milestone for the King.
It will be his most significant overseas tour since his cancer diagnosis and his first to Australia as the nation’s head of state, looking set to prompt debate about the future of the monarchy in the country and whether it should become a republic.
Charles and Camilla arrive in Australia on October 18 and the trip will see them meet locals and tuck into produce at the community barbecue – a staple of Australian culture – in western Sydney.
They will also be officially welcomed by Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in Canberra, and will meet two Australian professors hailed for their pivotal research on melanoma skin cancer and review the Australian naval fleet in Sydney Harbour.
The programme of engagements has been designed to give the King time to rest and recover from the many hours he will spend flying during his trip.
Mr Albanese has a long-held aim of holding a referendum on breaking ties with the British monarchy and his country becoming a republic.
The plans were put on hold after Australians overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to Indigenous people in a referendum held last year.
After the Australian leg, Charles will attend events in Samoa looking at sustainability and biodiversity, while the Queen will focus on her interests of literacy and domestic violence and sexual abuse.
The King will then gather with world leaders in Samoa’s capital and only city Apia for his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) since he became monarch and head of the Commonwealth.
Camilla is reported to be arranging a pre-tour break with friends this week while Charles is spending most of his time in Scotland to conserve his energy ready for his travels.
