Queen Camilla urges workaholic King Charles, 75, to take it easy ahead of prostate op after his 516 jobs last year
QUEEN Camilla has told workaholic King Charles to slow down after his recent health scare.
The 75-year-old monarch was pictured driving around his Sandringham Estate.
The King is recuperating there ahead of an operation on his enlarged prostate later this week.
His shock diagnosis followed tiring State Visits to France, Germany and Kenya in 2023.
An insider said: “The Queen has told him he needs to slow down a bit.”
Charles was seen driving around the Sandringham estate where he is resting.
He had flown to Norfolk from Balmoral on Friday.
Camilla, 76, spent an extra night with him in Scotland on Thursday before she left for her country mansion in Lacock, Wiltshire.
Yesterday she told well-wishers her husband was “fine” as she carried out back-to-back engagements in Swindon.
Sources close to the King say he “likes to be busy” and is “raring to go” and has been reading his government Red Boxes.
He was diagnosed with an enlarged prostate last Wednesday after suffering from symptoms.
He immediately scrapped engagements on the advice of doctors.
The King made his diagnosis public to encourage more men to check for symptoms.
It clearly had an effect. The NHS England page on benign prostate enlargement had 26,170 visits in the 48 hours after the announcement — compared to a daily average of just 1,400.
Sources close to the King said the whole nation would be hoping that he takes enough time to get better after the procedure.
A royal source added: “His work ethic is well known and not a surprise to anyone.”
Although he may not be seen on public engagements for a month, he will continue to work while resting.
That includes his vital constitutional role dealing with government papers and the Red Boxes.
The King is known to work seven days a week and Prince William remarked on a documentary for his dad’s 70th: “The man never stops.
“When we were kids there were bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him.”
Harry told the documentary Prince, Son and Heir — Charles at 70, screened in November 2018: “He does need to slow down.
“This is a man who has dinner ridiculously late at night.
“And then goes to his desk later that night and will fall asleep on his notes to the point of where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face.”
Royal author Valentine Low revealed in his book Courtiers that the King is “very demanding of himself” and expects similar from his staff, with phone calls coming “at any time” until 11pm and even at Christmas.
Actress Sophie Winkleman, married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the King’s second cousin, told Tatler: “You see how he works all day long, has a quick supper and then disappears until about 4am to write letters. He cares about so many things and he comes up with brilliant solutions.”
Royal biographer Robert Jobson, author of Our King: Charles III, said: “The King is a thoroughly decent man, a person of integrity who has always strived to do his best as a public servant and tried to put duty before himself.
“He is a grafter too, regularly putting in long hours.
“He cares very deeply about those he serves: in the UK, the realms and the wider Commonwealth, and the planet on which we all live.
“He has always had an innate sense of duty and tried his best to justify his good fortune by working tirelessly to improve the lot of others less fortunate than himself.”
Charles’s 516 engagements last year included 94 abroad.
A government source said his trip to Hamburg and Berlin in March, brought them “real benefits”.
They added it “reinforced deep ties” and admit they “find it hard to over- exaggerate how big a deal it was”.
Meanwhile, Camilla updated royal fans on the King’s health as she celebrated 175-year-old jewellery shop Deacon & Son in Swindon.
Schoolchildren handed her get-well cards for Charles, and local Jessie Jackson, 86, who shook Camilla’s hand, said the Queen told her the King “is fine”.
Camilla also toured a refuge, Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service, to mark its 50th anniversary and praise the “brilliant” work of staff, volunteers and families.