The Queen has spoken publicly for the first time about how hard it was to keep her husband the King’s cancer diagnosis ‌initially private.

Buckingham Palace revealed in February 2024 that the British monarch was being treated for an ‌undisclosed form of cancer.

He is still having treatment but said in December 2025 that an early ‌diagnosis and effective intervention meant it could be scaled back.

A week before the palace made the announcement, the Queen visited a Maggie’s cancer support centre at a London hospital. In a video released on behalf of the charity on Wednesday (British time), she said it had been hard not to ‌talk about her ‌husband’s own illness.

“I ⁠remember coming to see a Maggie’s just after the King being ​diagnosed. Nobody could say anything at the time, that was quite difficult,” she told Laura Lee, the chief executive of Maggie’s of which the Queen is president.

“I almost said something but, you know, I felt that it wasn’t the time to say, [I] looked at everybody who was suffering and ⁠all the relations, and I think it ‌made ​me realise even more how important these places were.

“I was just longing to let it out ​but obviously ‌I couldn’t.”

In the film, produced to mark Maggie’s 30th anniversary, the Queen spoke of looking after ​her “poor husband” and how he was determined to keep working.

“Look at my husband, nothing stopped him,” she said. “He just said, this is my way I’m going to ​cope ​with it.”

Maggie’s has said the ​revelation that the King and his daughter-in-law Kate, the Princess ‌of Wales, had been treated for cancer and their willingness to speak publicly about coping with the illness had had a huge positive impact on fellow sufferers.

“The King’s openness about his diagnosis has undoubtedly helped others to be more open themselves and to now hear the Queen’s completely ​understandable and natural response as a wife, shines a light on why it is ​so important that family ⁠and friends also get the support they need,” Lee said.

-AAP