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February 6, 2024 - 7:00am
When Justin Welby first took office as Archbishop of Canterbury, I admired his courage in talking openly about some of the personal tragedies that have marked his life, notably the loss of his baby daughter. His story exposed as hollow and glib the modern habit of examining someone’s privilege before deciding how much sympathy and understanding we can extend to them.
I thought of Welby, and the miseries he has endured despite being a wealthy, straight, white Etonian, when I heard about the King’s cancer diagnosis. No doubt there will be those who respond to the news with a certain dismissive cynicism. You know the sort of thing: why waste your sorrow on a rich man who has never done a day’s work in his life, and will not have to tolerate the delays and indignities to which NHS cancer patients are so often subjected?
No doubt in many cases there is an admirable egalitarian impulse behind such sentiments. But if human solidarity means anything, it means not limiting our fellow feeling in that way. To be diagnosed with a serious and potentially fatal disease, and to undergo unpleasant and onerous treatments with no guarantee of final success, is a horrible thing to happen to anyone. Many of us will have to endure the same experience one day, or support loved ones who are doing so.
All of us — rich or poor, black or white, duke or dustman — will have to confront the fact of our own mortality sooner or later. One of the most striking moments during the late Queen’s funeral was when the state regalia was removed from the coffin before it was committed to the tomb. We bring nothing into this world; we can surely take nothing out, in the words of the short, powerful burial service in His Majesty’s beloved Book of Common Prayer.
Life is hard. Wealth and high status do insulate people from certain trials and tribulations. However, there remain a thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Sickness, accidents and infirmity are great levellers, and there are other shared human experiences against which money cannot reliably protect us: disappointment in love, tensions within families, the limitations imposed by our own faults and weaknesses. I am quite sure that the King, for example, knows only too well how families can be a source of unhappiness and distress.
This last point suggests another universal lesson in this story: that good can be brought out of suffering. It has been reported that Prince Harry will shortly be visiting Britain to spend time with his father. Conceivably, the stark reminder that life is short will go some way to effecting a reconciliation between the two.
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SubscribeI’m thinking that this is a lot more serious than we’re being told.
Thoughts to everyone in the UK who is interested in this topic. As an American, I think that most of us don’t get the preoccupation with the royal family. I don’t think there are any analogs, here .
Al Sharpton is the closest thing you have to a monarch.
I would think Barack Obama would be a monarch.
Lots of Brits don’t get it either.
Your equivalents would be the Kardashians or (wait until 2025) Trump, the King of Orange.
You had a Royal family for a few years with the Kennedys.
Trouble is these days politicians are getting older, as a consequence instead of a toddling Jonjon in the Whitehouse your current first son is a sleezy adult cokehead.
The Royal family is in an operational pickle.
During last year’s Remembrance service at the Cenotaph I remember thinking that the two royal princes (Harry and Andrew) who had experienced active service in a war zone were both unavailable.
Queen Camilla seemed to be having minor mobility problems after the demands of the Coronation.
Ann deserves a retirement lifestyle after years of public serice.
Now The King will be on light duties for months and The Princess of Wales medical situation is a mystery.
Plus the Wales’ are slumming it relatively speaking in an undersize home that is not flexible for the current complexities they face. The most obvious alternative royal residence currently has a troublesome tenant who won’t leave.
The rich are different from you and me. Yes, they have better medical care.
Well, they probably pay for it.
In Charles’ case at least, with money we gave him.
I hope King Charles will have no delays in getting medical treatment, and will get financial support for any home care he needs.
I am sure that like any Head of State anywhere in the world he will get the medical care he needs.
Think the irony in Will’s comment passed you right by.
It was best passed by. One gets sick of whingers
The sneery tone did not pass me by. That is why I replied as I did.
Yes it was Steve Murray who wasn’t very perceptive on this occasion. Your neat remark was perfectly appropriate.
Whilst the King deserves sympathy like anyone else we should bear in mind that death from cancer is increasingly avoidable for those who can afford regular surveillance. It’s rapidly becoming a disease of the poor.
There was a doc on TV saying if his suspicious about the type of cancer are correct then the condition should respond well to a form anti cancer bacteria now routinely use for that condition.
So far I haven’t heard any snarky comments.I think everyone feels this could happen to them. I do think there is something a lot MORE serious about Katherine’s condition than we know,but WE DONT NEED TO BE TOLD. Give this graceful and dignified lady some privacy. I know that being pregnant takes a HUGE toll on some women. I’m thinking if William should become King in a solitary ……well I shouldnt even think that. And Harry is coming back to ghoul about and probably write another book with deathbed photos. I shouldnt say that either. Actually as Sister Rosetta Tharpe sang in one of her songs – it’s on YouTube music – Strange Things Are Happening Every Day.
Luckily for Charles, he gets to confront his immediately. The rest of us get put in a queue.
I might not mind being put in a queue for death. A more rapid meeting with the grim reaper isn’t so appealing!
Looks like it is prostate cancer, very common, only a real problem if it is unfavorable type, Gleason 7 or higher.
The official statement said it’s not prostate cancer.