The Royals with Roya and Kate - The King's return to hospital and Prince Harry's charity woes

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Kate and Roya bring you the latest as King Charles returns home. The King needed to cancel engagements after being taken to hospital suffering side effects from his ongoing cancer treatment. Meanwhile, the Duke of Sussex resigns as patron of the charity, Sentebale. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we have new health news about King Charles and also about the end of Prince Harry's involvement in one of his best love charities. Hello, this is Roya and Kate with The Royals. And we're recording this as just about every newspaper today has a picture of the King and headlines about his health. and headlines about his health. I wrote in our paper The Times that the King had to cancel visits after return to hospital. The Sun had it as Charles' hospital drama. So Kate, we've been following this for the last 12 hours or so. Where is he, what happened and what does this mean? Well, first things first, we've seen King Charles this morning leaving Clarence' house, waving and smiling to well-wishers out there, an act of public reassurance. The window was down slightly so everyone could

get a good view. But late last night we were told that he had been into hospital after suffering the side effects of his ongoing cancer treatment. On Thursday morning he had his regular treatment. Unfortunately had some sort of side effects from that and was taken by car to London Clinic. That's the Marylebone Hospital where of course he was treated last year. He was there briefly, we're told, where he was put under observation before being returned home. In time for dinner with the Queen at Clarence House and he was back in the study yesterday evening going through his state papers. Now, of course, this means that yesterday afternoon plans that he had to meet several ambassadors were postponed. His engagements today, which were due to take place in Birmingham,

have all been postponed. The King's said to be very disappointed about that. But this is acting on advice from his medical team that he needs to recuperate. We've just seen him now going off to High Grove for the weekend, where he's going to rest in his Gloucestershire retreat and take some time. But of course it came as a bit of a shock to everybody last night, I think it's fair to say. Yeah, I think we often forget, don't we, that the King is still having cancer treatment every week. We're told by Buckingham Palace that they're not anticipating huge changes to his diary next week, but obviously they'll keep that under close supervision. So we'll see how he is after the weekend. No one will want to move anything less than the King, who we know is very disappointed about not being in Birmingham today and hates cancelling things and hates postponing things and wants to be out there.

I think we'll see tweaks, won't we, for shortening of events, maybe taking a few events out just to lighten the load slightly. Yeah, Italy is an interesting one and one to watch because there's no doubt that the King will want to go and do the state visit. That program's already been tweaked now. We were supposed to have two state visits, one to the Holy See to see the Pope, who we're now not going to see because he's recovering and resting for two months. But we were told this week we'd still go ahead to the Republic of Italy, you know, a very important diplomatic trip for the King and Queen. They're going to be meeting with Prime Minister Maloney. Even though we know that the King and the Queen aren't going to see the Pope during the state visit to the

Holy See, that's been scrapped because of course the Pope is still resting and recovering himself after five weeks in hospital with pneumonia for the next couple of months he's going to be resting. We're told that they're still going to go to Italy. It'll still be almost certainly a four-day visit. The day that they were going to see him on April the 7th will probably be rejigged and have other engagements. So it's still a mega talk because it's still effectively a four-day state visit with all sorts of maneuverings and diplomatic things that they want to try and achieve with our bilateral relationship with Italy and all of that. And let's not forget that's been in the planning for months and months. Yeah.

So to scrap something of that scale from a state to state level at that level on the world stage, I think would be... It would raise alarm bells. It would raise alarm bells. It would be very difficult for them to present that in a positive way, in a reassuring way. So I think their focus now has to be on making that work. You know, obviously Prime Minister Maloney is very important for Britain that she comes into the fold with Zakir Starmer's Coalition of the Willing. You know, she's sort of been wavering. And I think

that throwing that kind of royal state visit out there, that gesture of soft power is going to be very important to the British government. They're going to want to ensure that visit goes ahead. And there'll be loads of engagements. It wouldn't be such a bad thing if it was a slightly lighter period of engagement. It's such a shame that England see the Pope on this occasion, but it might actually work out to their benefit if the King is still needing that extra time to recover. And having said that, I think I can see a world in which they do the state visit and maybe just take out a few engagements if they have to. I've been looking through that operation that we've both got and seeing it's quite a busy

tour. Yeah. The briefing now is that that will go ahead. It's expected to. I think they will probably take a view towards the end of next week to see how he is. Yeah. I think this is an act of public reassurance, isn't it? So that's a week away. Let's worry about that further down the line.

What they had to do last night to get ahead of the story and to reassure the public was to get it out there rather than this morning say Birmingham's off, send everybody into a panic and create, as we've seen in other circumstances, that kind of gap of information where the rumour mill starts and it doesn't stop. So I think they were quite wise last night to get ahead of it in time for those, let's say the front pages of all the newspapers. So with that

9pm embargo, it meant that all the reports could be done. It could hit the 10 o'clock news for the broadcasters and we could have it all on the front pages. And, you know, like you say, the reassuring message is it was a brief visit to hospital, you know, he was under observation, you know, an abundance of caution. He's back on good form, we're told. And there was an interesting line about transparency wasn't there, that they wanted to reach a part of can be as open and transparent as possible, which always reminds me of that Sun front page story where the palace were caught on the hot because the Queen was spotted at hospital and we hadn't been told. And that just sort of exploded. And that was the beginning of

very occasional updates about her, what they called episodic mobility issues. We were never told whether she actually had a specific illness. And I think given the press's response to that and the feeling that this was the head of state and if she was being admitted to hospital previously, they'd sort of let people know they didn't, it created a bit of a panic. I think lessons learned. Absolutely. And they're taking a slightly different... I mean, we still don't know what cancer Charles has and we don't know what treatment he's having and we don't know what treatment caused the side effects. So unlike the Princess of Wales, again, the type of cancer that she

had wasn't disclosed, but she did say that she had been going through chemotherapy. Now that level of granular detail about the King's treatment has never been revealed publicly at least. So I think that's, that's interesting. So, but you know, the palace has always said the reason for that is because they want to throw their arms around everybody with cancer, everybody undergoing all sorts of different cancer treatment. It's not out of a sense of embarrassment or squeamishness. No, that's the reason why, that's the reason they give for not being more transparent. But you're right, as head of state, they have a, you know, I think Charles feels it quite keenly, they have a duty to inform the public and to stop hairs running

with rumours. I think as well, by not telling the public what type of cancer he has, it's an attempt to sort of crush speculation. There is always going to be endless speculation in some parts of social media about, you know, the head of state and an illness. But it's so that every time something like this happens, you don't have, you hope the palace doesn't have double page spreads in every paper with medical experts saying,

well, with this kind of cancer, it's because this isn't what's going on. And the diagnosis and the prognosis saying, well, with this type of cancer, you've only got x years to live. Or you shouldn't be doing this, or you should be doing that. Exactly, so it gives him some sort of freedom. I mean, it's interesting,

I was going back through this morning for an online piece about all the things he's done this month, all the engagements he's done, some of which people will be familiar with if they followed the King. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes, of course. There's lots of engagements that don't get covered, meetings with ambassadors, high commissioners. And just looking at the things he's done this month, it's a lot, it's been a lot. And the Queen's always said, you know, you can't hold him back, you know, I've told him to stop, he doesn't listen. Even the Queen can't get, even she's failed to hold him back, he's such

a busy bee. And it's only his medical team that say, look, you know, we're calling quits on the Birmingham visit, sorry. But partly, like you say, the Italy visit is so important, I think this will be try to regroup, try to get the strength back, try to reboot for that big moment in Italy. It would be a shame for that state visit not to go ahead. And also it's a sign isn't it to the world that he's not ready. So I think that big moment will be what they're aiming for. That will be a target for them to hopefully get to. I mean, he was in Northern Ireland. They were in Northern Ireland for three days last week. They were in Northern Ireland for three days.

You know, I went to that reception at Buckingham Palace on Water Raid reception. There were 300 people there. He stayed about 20 minutes late. He was, you know, laughing, joking with people, chatting with donors. All I saw of him was we are on Tuesday night at something for the Queen.

Couldn't get him out of there. He didn't have to be there, but he went to support her and was working the room. That's the thing. He didn't have to be there. He likes it. Yeah, he does. And they told us, didn't they, at the end of the Australia Samoa, Vivid.

It's a tonic for him. It's a tonic. Yeah, it's the thing that keeps him going. The mind and body approach to work. Yeah. Mind and soul. And who's going to tell the King, no, slow down. Apart from the Queen.

Well, you'd be better than this. I think you'd be dispatched to the tower pretty sharpish if you did and it probably wouldn't have any effect. But anyway, he will hopefully rest to regroup at High Gover of the Weekend and I think we'll probably see what happens with the diary next week. Yeah, I mean, colour sources saying this is just a kind of media in the road. You know, as lots of cancer patients, it's not always going in the same direction. But a year on, you know, he hasn't had that statement, hasn't been in a position to give the statement that the Princess of Wales gave that he's in remission. No, it

goes on. He's 76. He's got an awful lot on his plate. As we were given to understand at the end of the Australian Samoa tour with the briefing we had with his team after that, he is taking an approach to living with cancer and that's how the status grows. And as he said in Belfast when he visited the Cancer Research Centre, he invoked Winston Churchill saying, you know, keep buggering on and that's very much what drives him, you know, just keep getting up, keep doing it. Well, we wish him well. So we'll take a pause and afterwards discuss Prince Harry and the break with his charity centre Barley that he co-founded in Lesotho in Southern Africa.

2025 has not been the quiet year that Prince Harry perhaps was hoping for. Because last week he made the papers as his US visa documents were released in a row about previous drug use. And this week Kate, you reported another story that kept him all across the front pages and this one we think is going to hurt him a lot. So it's a great story for anyone who might have missed it. Tell us what has happened to Santibale, that charity that's so close to his heart. Yeah, so Prince Harry and his co-founder Prince Sazo from Lesotho released a joint statement in which they said they were resigning from the charity they co-founded nearly 20 years ago. This was sent to Barley, it means forget me not in Sesotho and that was Princess Diana's favourite flower and

that's why it was named that way, it was in honour of his mother Diana but also Prince Sazo who'd also lost his mother. And together, the princes set up this brilliant charity, which was designed to help orphans who were suffering in the country. So eradicate poverty, raise awareness of HIV and AIDS, and try to stop the blight there. A real passion project for Harry, wasn't it? It was a real passion project. So millions and millions of pounds were raised largely through this annual polo event. Yeah. And yet there was this huge bust up with the chair of the board and it got to a point where Harry and Seso and the trustees wanted to get rid of the chair of the board, a woman called Dr. Sophie Chanduka. Yeah. She said, no, I'm not going anywhere and took took out a lawsuit essentially to

stop them from from getting rid of her. Wow. So they were left with no other recourse apart from to, to resign. And this was extraordinary. So the state has been a real war of words, hasn't it? Kate remind us what's been said on both sides. Absolutely. So in, in Harry and Sezo's statement,azo's statement which I got hold of before it had been publicly released, I had to go to them and say look we understand

you're about to release this can you you know can just confirm it. They said look nearly 20 years ago we founded Centre Bali in honour of our mothers it means forget me not the local from the local language of Lesotho and it's what we always promised the young people we'd serve through this charity. Today is no different. With heavy hearts, we've resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice. In support of and solidarity with the board of trustees

who have had to do the same, it is devastating that the relationship between the charity's trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation. They're saying the trustees act that goes on and on and say that the trustees acted in the best interests and I've also got a statement from several of the former trustees who include Mark Dyer, known as Marco. So close to Harry.

Absolutely. And William, godfather to Prince Archie. Yep. And former equary to the King in the 1990s when he was Prince of Wales. And they say, as a group of British and African trustees, we have made the difficult decision to unanimously resign as board members of Sinter Barley. They go on to say that their priority has always been to help the charity and they say it's desperately sad that this relationship has broken down. It's escalated

to a lawsuit by the chair against the charity to block us from voting her out after our request for her resignation was rejected. But they say that in good conscience they couldn't allow centre Bali to undertake legal and financial burden. So they've been left with no other option apart from to leave. Now, after we published our story, and we'd obviously gone to the chair of the board for comment. She then came back and said, with a missile, yeah, an absolute missile attack is the best form of defence saying, what about, you know, harassment, bullying? Misogyny. Misogyny and misogynoir,

so a kind of racist element to it as well, saying against black women in particular. And this is toxic, you know, this is a huge war of words for her to come back with something so strong. The charity also, when Senator Barley's statement was pretty punchy too, it was quite, you know, when they,

I mean, her statement was, I mean, like a bomb again. I mean, it was pretty clear that she was, you know, pointing the finger at all of them, but also pointing the finger at Harry when she said there are people who play the victim and use the press that they disdain to put things out there. I mean, it was so, like, pointed. Was it obviously pointing at Harry, wasn't it? I thought the charity's response was interesting because the charity put out a statement effectively backing their chair that said, you know, founders and patrons are all very well and good

and we thank them for it. But the real people that do the work are the people on the ground. It basically said, thank you so much, but bye bye, Prince Harry and Prince Harry. And that's coming from the chair because the charity now is the chair and she's called it restructuring.

She's brought in new trustees to replace the ones that have walked out. So I think essentially her running the show, but without Harry, what is it? And I spoke to a man they call Dr. Kelly, he's one of the former trustees. And I wrote a sort of follow-up piece with him. He's saying Sazo and Harry are completely torn apart by this and the idea that they would abandon the kids, which is not true at all, it's just they were left with no other option to do it.

But I mean, they're all kind of baffled and bewildered that they could wind up in this situation. Now it transpires that this has all been brewing for a long time, of course. She was hired in July 2023. He hadn't been to the city for a long time as well. He went last year with Sasa, didn't he? And there had been a gap, he hadn't been since 2018, maybe it was quite a long time. And he went last year but everyone, you know, in sort of following up your story, everyone has sort of noted that there'd been a real gap between him going last year and previously going. When you think about he

went a few times in the, in like during the sort of 2000s, I'm going out with him I think it was 2015 to open a new children's center. I mean he absolutely adored that charity. And a lot of it was based here until sort of last year and they decided to move to Africa which seemed like a good idea. It's an African charity let's have it for Africa employing more African people as part of it. And that all seemed sort of sensible until, you know, things started to unravel. So one of the major sponsors for the annual Polo event decided they weren't going to be involved anymore. There seems to have been some disagreement with the chair of the boards. So when the Polo event went ahead last year, it was the Miami Cup.

It wasn't the center barley cup, which actually could have been, you know, there's a writing on the wall at the time. There is supposed to be a polo match in November this year. That's not going to go ahead. There's no way Nacho Figueres is going to join Harry. He's the Argentinian polo player who's best mates with Harry. He stars in a lot of his programs. But what is that charity without Harry?

I mean, this is what Dr Kelly was saying to me. What is it with there is no entity without Harry and Sayzo. For Sayzo at the moment is really gutted. I mean, Dr Kelly saying he worries for their emotion, the princes, both of them, emotional well-being. Sayzo's gutted. He's recently had a family bereavement separately. And I think from the tone of the statement, there is hope that perhaps if the chair of the boards could shuffle off, they could regain

control, hopefully get those sponsors back on board and get it back on track. But who knows how much damage has been done. Yeah. And if they've lost money coming in, Harry gave $1.5 million of his proceeds from his spare autobiography, which you'll remember to the charity. You know, this has been a kind of lifelong kind of passion project from being his late teens. To give people an idea of how important it was to him, not only the amount of times he'd visited when he was younger and how young he was when he started at 19, but the very last engagement he did here before he left these shores to pursue his life in California was at a dinner for Santa Barley.

And he gave that very moving speech saying, you know, I'd wanted to carry on. Really, I'd wanted to carry on sort of in service of the crown and in service of my country and all of you. And but, you know, Santa Barley will be so important and well, you know, I'll be involved forever. And he talks about the Sentebale family that had watched him grow up and put their arms around him. They are family, like Seizo sees him as family and Seizo is the brother of the king of Lesoto and the king of Lesoto calls him, calls Harry brother as well. You know, they're all so close.

How damaging do you think it is for Harry in terms of, you know, there's so many question marks over Harry's purpose and his raison d'etre and what he wants to do and how he wants to forge ahead with his future, which I think to a lot of us still isn't particularly clear. Senterbarle was always something that even though he might not have done loads and loads of engagements for, he was very sort of set on, as you say, raising money for, was a real connection with his life before, you know, from his younger days, a real connection

with his mother. How much of a loss is it and how damaging is it for this to have happened over something that's so personal to him? And if he can't sort of get back in there and regain control of it, how much of a void does that leave him? I think it's huge. I think the, like you say, the connection with his mother and all that sort of thing, but it's a connection with who Harry is

and what he stands for, isn't it? I mean, it's that and Invictus. And you just think for both of them, they're brilliant projects that he's worked on, his brainchild in both instances. And I think one of his big connections with Africa, which he's always said is his home from home. And he's loved it. And I think this, I can just imagine that he's completely gutted by it, because it's, it's so much a pillar of what he is, what he does and what he stands

for. And like you rightly say, it's the one thing that he took with him, if you like, from along with Invictus. A lot of those patronages he had to give up that were associated with the crown, this was something that was his, it was completely his. We saw the pictures of him visiting last year and him and Sayzo are close. And I think it just strikes to the fact

of how serious this is, the fact that they all walked off, you know, they all walked off the job. And now you've got this increasingly bitter and toxic war of words. And, you know, the PR ramifications of that, you know, already you can see people who don't like Harry online going, oh, well, you know, obviously the charity is going wrong, so they've blamed it on this woman. I mean, it's more complex than that. But that, he will not complex than that. Yeah.

But he will not like how that's playing out PR-wise. Yeah. And you can understand why, but I think there's sort of safety in numbers there. You look at Mark Dyer, you look at some really serious trustees who've left. Linda Chalka, Baroness Chalka left in November. It's been a trickle, hasn't it, of departures? Yes, it has. I think as people have realized this is something that's probably there's no way back from this. And you know there's lots of arguments about should you know should

they be raising money for African charities through one you know very white very privileged polo match a year. Well that's the kind of fundraising model and people will pay a hundred thousand pounds to play polo with Prince Harry. And if that money is going to go to a good cause, then it's stood the test of time nearly 20 years. They've raised an awful lot of money. They've created a centre out in Lesotho. You know, all the good work that they've done out there. It just seems, you know, a real shame, I think. And something with which I have sympathy for Harry on this one.

Yeah. Don't always have sympathy with Harry. I think. For various things. Yeah. On this one, I do. I think it's really unfortunate. Someone said to me this morning, actually, the real people who are suffering, not Harry,

it's the children. Yeah. Yeah. It's the people who get help by the charity. And where does that leave them? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

So, very sad. Watch this space more to come. It's a great story. Thank you. So there's been some very big news this week Kate, but the good news is that despite a little bit of a wobble, fingers crossed, all cylinders firing next week. And if he wants something to do over the weekend, apart from pottering in his garden, which we know he loves and finds relaxing, there's a very good podcast

called The Royals he can listen to. Indeed. I'm gonna cheer him right up. See ya. Bye.