Queen Camilla and Prince William to hold the fort while King Charles has cancer treatment

Queen Camilla and Prince William will hold the fort while King Charles undergoes cancer treatment.

They will also receive a helping hand from the remaining senior working royals who have stepped up in recent weeks, namely Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

Since the King’s original diagnosis for a benign enlarged prostate, the Queen picked up the bulk of royal engagements and has been the public face of the royal’s ‘keep calm and carry on’ mantra.

After the King was discharged from hospital last week, Camilla, 76, attended royal engagements every day and reassured fans during the King’s ongoing health battle.

On an official visit last Tuesday she told well-wishers he was “getting on” and “doing his best”, adding: “Thank goodness!”

The Queen, who is often affectionately referred to as “the King’s strength and stay”, will continue this approach over the coming weeks and months, and undertake a full programme of public duties while continuing to support her husband at home.

Royal commentator Afua Hagan said: “She is his strength and stay and she’s very good at keeping him positive.”

Joe Little of Majesty Magazine added that Camilla is “the power behind the throne”, adding: “She is a massive support in so many ways to her husband the King, only last week we saw that she was holding the fort while he was recuperating at Sandringham.

“I think only now are people appreciating the true worth of Queen Camilla and that will very much be the case in the coming weeks.”

Meanwhile Prince William will return to royal duties on Wednesday after three weeks off work supporting his young family while his wife recovers from abdominal surgery.

The Prince of Wales, 41, will conduct an investiture at Windsor Castle and attend a fundraising gala that evening in central London for a pioneering air ambulance service that the Daily Express helped create.

There are no further public engagements listed for him this week so far and he is expected to take next week off because his three children are on half-term holiday.

The heir to the throne had cleared the diary following the Princess of Wales’ planned abdominal surgery on January 16. She spent 13 nights in hospital and is now recuperating at their home in Windsor.

Aides have said it is unlikely that Kate, 42, will return to official duties until after Easter. The future Queen’s condition is not known but Palace officials have said it is non-cancerous.

They have said Kate wanted her personal medical condition to remain private, but sources say she may reveal the diagnosis at a later date.

Kensington Palace has said Kate’s surgery was successful and that she is “making good progress”.

William is expected to cut his workload until his wife has fully recovered, but will return to public facing duties on Wednesday where he will hand out over 50 gongs. This includes an MBE to the England women’s football side’s record goalscorer, retired professional Ellen Convery – formerly White.

In the evening, the heir, a former air ambulance pilot, will attend the annual fundraising gala for London’s Air Ambulance, a charity he became patron of in 2019.

The service, which costs £15 million a year to run and serves 10 million people within the M25, was created in 1989 with the help of the Daily Express and its then boss, Lord Stevens, who pledged £4 million of company money to provide a helicopter, pilots, operational staff, and all running costs initially for fours years.

He also persuaded the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to get the Government to pay for some of the costs of the service after the then health secretary Ken Clarke said there was no money available.

Princess Anne will undertake 12 engagements across the UK this week and Prince Edward will return to duties for three engagements on Thursday having taken a short break following his recent trips to St Helena and South Africa.