‘He can carry on for many, many years’: The secret treatment that’s transformed King Charles
King Charles has just wrapped up a four-day state visit to the United States looking, by all accounts, very well.
Speeches, state dinners, a trip to New York, time with Donald and Melania Trump – and he did it all without missing a beat. Not bad for a 77-year-old who has spent the past couple of years battling cancer.
The reason, it seems, is an experimental treatment that appears to be working.
Royal correspondent Tom Sykes reports that Charles has been receiving a combination of immunotherapy and an RNA-based cancer vaccine by weekly injection.
It’s the kind of treatment that has been getting a lot of attention in cancer research in recent years – and in Charles’s case, it seems to be doing its job.
The Palace hasn’t confirmed the details, but sources close to the King say the results have been impressive.
“There is now a great deal of optimism – amongst the Palace, amongst his family, amongst his circle – that the King can carry on for many, many years hence,” Tom said on a recent podcast.
Although things can always change with cancer, Tom insists the mood around Charles has shifted noticeably for the better – a long way from where things stood when the diagnosis first came out.
When his diagnosis went public in early 2024, many people assumed his reign would be a short one – a handover period between Queen Elizabeth II‘s 70 years on the throne and whatever comes next with Prince William.
That conversation looks different now. If Charles keeps responding well to treatment, a reign that runs well into the next decade looks very possible.
According to Tom, that changes things for the whole family – William’s plans, the ongoing situation with Prince Harry, and how the day-to-day royal workload gets divided up.
As with anything involving cancer, nobody is getting ahead of themselves. But right now, the outlook is better than it has been in a long time.