How Charles’ first 12 months since Coronation has been one among his hardest

He was crowned in a majestic ceremony inside Westminster Abbey a year ago today.

King Charles’ Coronation was watched by more than 20million people in the UK and millions more around the world.

But in the year since that stunning day, His Majesty has had a lot to deal with, both personally and as a father, husband and as head of the Royal Family.

He continues to undergo cancer treatment after his diagnosis in February, which was followed by the Princess of Wales‘s own shock health news.

The nation was stunned when Kate revealed in March that she too is suffering from cancer, which was found after she underwent major abdominal surgery at the same time as Charles was initially treated for an enlarged prostate.

It came after the Royal Family was rocked by the death of Thomas Kingston, the son-in-law of the King’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent. He took his own life at his parents’ home on February 25.

And in April, Charles grappled with renewed focus on his disgraced brother Prince Andrew amid the release of Netflix drama Scoop, which focused on his disastrous Newsnight interview following his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the fallout from the sexual assault allegations made by Virginia Giuffre. 

Before his cancer diagnosis, Charles proved his popularity abroad with a well-received three-day state visit to Paris in September.

In November, the King welcomed the president of South Korea and his wife on their state visit to the UK, during which he hosted a grand state banquet at Buckingham Palace. 

The visit came the same month that Omid Scobie‘s latest book, Endgame was published – bringing renewed claims about the King’s relationship with his son Prince Harry. 

The King’s cancer – followed by Kate’s and Sarah Ferguson’s own diagnoses

The Palace announced on February 5 that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer.

The disease was spotted when he underwent prostate treatment at the private London Clinic at the same time as Kate was recovering from surgery there.

In a sign of how close the monarch is to his daughter-in-law, it later emerged that the King visited Kate at her bedside after her operation.

His Majesty, who was praised for his initial openness about his prostate treatment, postponed all public-facing duties as he began treatment.

Prince Harry – who has had a difficult relationship with his father since his and Meghan’s move to the US and the release of his bombshell memoir Spare – made a brief visit to the UK to see the King after his diagnosis.

The fact that both the King and Kate were out of action – and that William and Camilla also took time out to care for their other halves – showed up the difficulties of Charles’ desire for a ‘slimmed down monarchy’.

It left just Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh as senior working royals who were not saying no to engagements to care for loved ones.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, as well as the frail Duke of Kent, 88, continued to play their role in supporting the monarchy with their attendance at a slew of events. 

The King returned to his public duties last week after getting the blessing of his doctors.

His medical team were understood to be ‘pleased with the progress made so far’ in his treatment and ‘remain positive’ about his recovery. 

For his first engagement since his diagnosis, His Majesty visited the cancer treatment centre at University College Hospital on April 30.

It was a poignant engagement given his current situation and the Princess of Wales’s own cancer fight.

In a deeply emotional video message released on March 22, she revealed that she too has the disease.

The princess, 42, said she is undergoing ‘preventative’ chemotherapy and that the news had come as a ‘huge shock’.

It came following intense speculation about her health and the fallout from the release of the Mother’s Day photograph that was found to have been edited by the princess herself. 

The King said in a statement that he was so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did’ and remains in the ‘closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law’.

Kate’s diagnosis came after Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, revealed a skin cancer diagnosis in January.

She had a mole removed from her body and tests found it to be malignant melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.

The duchess previously underwent an operation to treat breast cancer last year.

Positive signs in the King’s relationship with Prince Harry

When Harry made a 25-hour visit to the UK to see his father after his diagnosis, there were hopes that it might signal a warming in their difficult relationship.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Harry said he was pleased to have visited the UK to see his father.

He added that he would return to see him again and did not discount the suggestion that his family rift could be healed by the King’s health crisis.

It was then claimed at the Duke of Sussex is willing to return to a ‘temporary royal role’ to support his father during his illness.

It was suggested that Harry had been encouraged by ‘warm exchanges’ between himself and the King since his father’s cancer diagnosis. 

The prince had told friends he would be happy to ‘step into a royal role while his father is unwell’, according to the report in The Times. 

However, sources said that His Majesty was ‘firmly of the opinion’ that there is no way back for the Duke of Sussex as a working royal ‘in any way, shape or form’.

Insiders did also stress that this did not mean that Charles was not open to repairing his relationship with his youngest son.

Death of Thomas Kingston

When it emerged that Thomas Kingston had died, Charles and Queen Camilla sent their ‘most heartfelt thoughts and prayers’ to Lady Kingston.

A subsequent inquest heard that Mr Kingston died from a ‘traumatic head wound’ on February 25 and a gun was found near his body.

His father found him on forcing entry to a locked building after Mr Kingston had earlier visited for lunch with his parents, senior coroner Katy Skerrett said  

Lady Windsor paid tribute to her husband in a joint statement with his family, describing him as an ‘exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him’ – and called his death a ‘great shock to the whole family’.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: ‘The King and the Queen have been informed of Thomas’s death and join Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and all those who knew him in grieving a much-loved member of the family. 

‘In particular, Their Majesties send their most heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Gabriella and to all the Kingston family.’ 

Mr Kingston was an Army veteran who survived a suicide bombing in Baghdad and was a hostage negotiator. He went on to become a financier.  

Release of Netflix drama Scoop 

The King faced more headlines about his brother Prince Andrew after Netflix drama Scoop was released on April 5.

It dramatised Andrew’s 2019 car crash Newsnight interview with journalist Emily Maitlis.

Andrew was pilloried for his TV performance because of a lack of contrition for his friendship with paedophile Epstein and his failure to express sympathy for the dozens of women the financier trafficked and abused over three decades.

His alibis for not having sex with Virginia Giuffre three times were widely ridiculed by the public.

In one, he said that he was at a Pizza Express in Woking on the night Ms Giuffre claimed they had sex in London.

Maitlis is portrayed in the drama by Gillian Anderson, whilst Rufus Sewell depicts the Duke of York.

Andrew was exiled from public life after the TV encounter and banned from any royal duties.

The King has made no sign that his brother will be allowed back as a working royal, though Andrew did attend the Royal Family’s traditional Sandringham church service at Christmas.  

First Christmas broadcast since the Coronation

Charles made the second Christmas broadcast of his reign from Buckingham Palace’s Centre Room.

A video montage displayed footage from his Coronation and highlighted the work of other key royals such as his wife the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal. 

The King told the nation and Commonwealth: ‘Over this past year my heart has been warmed by countless examples of the imaginative ways in which people are caring for one another – going the extra mile to help those around them simply because they know it is the right thing to do: at work and at home; within and across communities.

‘My wife and I were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people – volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction – were able to join us in Westminster Abbey for the coronation earlier this year.

‘They are an essential backbone of our society.’

In his address a year earlier, His Majesty had paid tribute to his beloved mother, who had died little more than three months earlier. 

King attends COP28 climate change conference

On December 1 last year, His Majesty told world leaders that the ‘Earth does not belong to us’ in a keynote address to the Cop28 eco-summit.

The monarch told delegates his grandchildren will be ‘living with the consequences of what we did or didn’t do’ on climate change in 2050.

Charles was the only foreign head of state who was invited to speak at the meeting of global leaders.

His Majesty, who has been a passionate environmentalist for all of his adult life, added: ‘I pray with all my heart that Cop28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action at a time when, already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.

‘Despite all the attention, there is 30 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than there was back then, and almost 40 per cent more methane.

‘Some important progress has been made, but it worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully far off track as the global stocktake report demonstrates so graphically.

‘The dangers are no longer distant risks. I have seen across the Commonwealth, and beyond, countless communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks, whose lives and livelihoods are laid waste by climate change.

‘Surely, real action is required to stem the growing toll of its most vulnerable victims.’

Publication of Endgame

On November 28 last year, Endgame – the latest book by royal author Omid Scobie – was published.

Scobie, who has been dubbed ‘Meghan’s mouthpiece’, made a series of claims about King Charles.

He said in his book that the King branded his son Prince Harry ‘that fool’ following the release of the duke’s bombshell Netflix documentary.

Scobie also claimed that the King is out of touch and demands that his shoelaces are ironed.

And Charles was said to have been ‘cold and brief’ in a conversation he had with Harry after the release of his own memoir Spare.

This allegation was branded ‘total bull****’ by one source. 

Scobie’s book quoted an unnamed friend of the Duke of Sussex who said that Charles was not ‘open to any proper dialogue. 

A friend of Harry’s had encouraged him to call Charles after the book came out in January, which the author said followed months of the King ‘keeping his distance’. 

Mr Scobie wrote: ‘Despite the many opportunities to discuss his grievances ahead of the publication of the book, Charles instead chose to keep his distance for months.

‘Harry and his father swapped a few words over Christmas 2022, but it wasn’t until after the January 10, 2023, release of the memoir that they had their first proper conversation.

‘Encouraged by a close friend, the Duke of Sussex reached out to Charles by phone to try to discuss some of the unresolved issues between them.’ 

The book also claimed that Harry’s solo attendance at the King’s Coronation was a ‘striking reminder of the missed opportunity the monarch had to bring his entire family together before the public witnessed this royal milestone.’

The author added that this ‘wasn’t for lack of effort on Harry’s side’. 

He said the Duke ‘made it clear to his father after the January 2023 release of his memoir that he hoped to have a proper conversation about events of the past, a chance for both sides to take accountability where necessary’.

But Mr Scobie described Charles as ‘stubbornly hard to pin down’, adding that Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were ‘unclear’ for the first few months of the year about whether they were even invited to the Coronation.

Charles told his son ‘I… haven’t decided’ during a phone call in early February initiated by Harry, according to Mr Scobie who added that Charles only made a final decision in late March.

Scobie’s book became the subject of a major row when it emerged that the Dutch version of the book named two royals as racists.

The author had previously said that he could not reveal the names of the royals due to libel laws in the UK.

He said that the appearance of the names in the Dutch version was an ‘error’.

Meghan Markle first mentioned the two unnamed royals in the Sussexes’ infamous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021.

She claimed there were ‘several conversations’ between herself and Royal Family members about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be.

Meghan chose not to name them amid fears it would ‘damage’ their reputation.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan then named the pair on his Talk TV show. 

However, the King brushed off the row as he landed in Dubai to give his speech at Cop28

When asked by Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu how he was, the monarch replied: ‘I’m all right very much, just about’. 

State visit by South Korea‘s president and his wife

On November 21 last year, His Majesty hosted South Korea’s president when he came to the UK with his wife for a three-day state visit.

At a stunning banquet inside Buckingham Palace, the King gave a speech that referenced K-pop culture.

Marking the 140th anniversary of Korea’s diplomatic relationship with the UK, the King described it as a ‘partnership in which close personal connections, fostered over many decades, have blossomed today into a real sense of affection, or jeong, between our societies at so many levels’. 

And he even joked about his own visit to the country in 1992 with the late Princess Diana, saying: ‘Sadly, when I was in Seoul all those years ago, I am not sure I developed much of what might be called the Gangnam Style!’ 

The King highlighted the ‘remarkable journey’ Korea has taken in the span of his lifetime, saying: ‘Koreans have created a miracle.’ 

He said his late mother, who last visited in 1999, was struck by the warmth of the welcome she received and the beauty of the country.

And he said he looked forward to a future with even closer connections in areas as diverse as football, to education, science and defence.

Earlier in the day, President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee were formally welcomed by the King and Queen at the Royal Pavilion on Horse Guards.

The president and first lady then joined the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales in a carriage procession along The Mall to Buckingham Palace.

The South Korean president also attended a banquet at the Guildhall and visited the Churchill War Rooms during the trip.

State visit to Paris 

When Charles and Camilla walked through the streets of Paris to kick off his three-day state visit to France last September, he received a very warm welcome.

He was greeted with shouts of ‘King’ from balconies in the French capital, before he was whisked off to the Arc de Triomphe for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying.

The monarch was also helped by President Macron as he planted a tree in the grounds of the British Ambassador’s residence.

It was a poignant tribute to his mother the late Queen, who started the tradition in 1957 before repeating the gesture in 1972 and 2015. 

In the evening, the King and Queen were the stars at a lavish state banquet at the Elysee Palace.

On the second day of his visit, His Majesty became the first member of the British Royal Family to speak to French parliamentarians from the senate chamber.

Highlighting the deep friendship between the UK and France, he told officials: ‘As neighbours, friends, partners and allies, there is no challenge to which we cannot rise, as we have done so often in the past.’

On the final day of the trip, the King highlighted his passion for environmentalism with a visit to an ‘experimental forest’, where he heard about the devastating impact of the French forest fires in the summer of 2022.

Meanwhile, the Queen visited a charity which houses a supermarket, kitchen and restaurant.

The King and Queen’s trip was hailed as a success for Anglo-French relations.

It was noted that His Majesty and President Macron enjoyed a genuine bond, which some even labelled as a ‘bromance’.

His wife Brigitte was said to have got on very well with Queen Camilla.  

The King’s 75th birthday 

The King’s 75th birthday celebrations on November 14 kicked off with a tea party at Highgrove.

Guests included The Repair Shop star Jay Blades, who formed a bond with the monarch after Charles’s appearance on a royal-themed special of his show.

Also in attendance was celebrity chef Raymond Blank and former Imagination front man Leee John, as well as representatives from the NHS and the Windrush generation.

Attendees serenaded him with a rendition of Happy Birthday before cutting his white and gold three-tier cake. 

Later in the day, he headed to a party at Clarence House, where the Prince and Princess of Wales led family members who were in attendance.

They were joined by Charles’s niece Princess Beatrice, Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Chatto and Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike.

Other family members present included the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and David Armstrong-Jones, the son of the late Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones. 

Also in attendance was the late Queen Elizabeth II’s racing manager John Warren and Sarah Troughton, who is one of Queen Camilla’s six companions – a role which replaced the former lady-in-waiting position – and oldest friends. 

It was claimed that Harry and Meghan turned down an invitation to the bash, though source close to the Sussexes told MailOnline that they were not asked to come.