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The Windsors are looking for normality – as much as that is possible at the moment. Prince William stepped into the breach for his sick father on Wednesday and took on his first public appointments. Since Charles' abdication due to his cancer diagnosis no longer seems unthinkable, all eyes have been on William as the designated heir to the throne.
Patricia Dreyer, DER SPIEGEL:
“William has known since he was a little boy that at some point, if things turn out as expected, this role will fall to him. What is special about this situation is that Kate, William's wife, who is very important for the crown's appearance in public, is now seriously ill and had to undergo an operation a few weeks ago and will be out until after Easter . And as with Charles, it's just a bit unfortunate that, on the one hand, there is communication: Yes, there was an operation. We have a major medical problem here, but it doesn't say exactly what is going on. There’s just a lot of room for speculation and uncertainty.”
William actually wanted to take a longer break because of his wife's abdominal surgery and look after Kate and their three children. But that is no longer possible now that his father has cancer. Could the disgraced Prince Harry help out with staff? He traveled to London from California on the service afternoon.
Patricia Dreyer, DER SPIEGEL:
»First of all, hasty arrivals of family members are not a good sign. But in this case it was perhaps also a welcome opportunity for Harry to actually mend this broken relationship a bit with a personal meeting, i.e. to actually seek personal closeness to the family again. And maybe that’s a very, very personal moment in this whole thing, in this whole unpleasant story.”
The meeting between Harry and his father is said to have lasted less than an hour. A meeting between the brothers Harry and William, who were once considered inseparable but are now enemies, is not planned, the BBC said.
Patricia Dreyer, DER SPIEGEL:
»I think William's resentment of his younger brother is still enormous.
Charles made it clear from the beginning, so to speak, from his first speech after the Queen's death, that Harry and Meghan would always be part of the family for him. And I think it's obviously important to him as a father to have a good relationship with his younger son. And I think, from a dynastic point of view, it is wiser for the Windsors not to constantly give rise to speculation about how great the level of hostility within the family is at the moment.
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There has been a lot of speculation in the kingdom since Charles' cancer was announced. Charles actually wanted to prevent that.
Patricia Dreyer, DER SPIEGEL
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It's absolutely unusual for a British monarch to make it so public: I have a very serious illness here. This has never happened before. The fact that Charles is now being so open about it is completely, completely new. But the openness only goes so far: it doesn't say exactly what illness it is. That may have something to do with a piece of privacy that you still want to protect, but nevertheless, it also creates uncertainty because you simply don't know how serious things really are with the king.
According to the palace, Charles III is optimistic about his recovery and hopes to be back to full fitness as soon as possible. Whether that is true remains to be seen.