| Welcome to Royal Watch.
This week’s royal coverage has been dominated by health concerns, including the King’s prostate procedure and the news of the Duchess of York’s diagnosis of skin cancer. The Princess of Wales faces months of recovery once she returns home from hospital. But is there any secret information about her operation being kept hidden by journalists?
There’s also discussion about the future of the monarchy in the world of Labour politics.
Harry and Meghan made an appearance in Jamaica and, in a case of one ancient institution meeting another, a prince met the world’s oldest land animal. |
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| | | Three royal health announcements | The royal news at the moment might make you think you’ve accidentally stumbled into the health section. Three of the Royal Family have health problems.
The King had to have a procedure for an enlarged prostate. He’ll require some time to recover which will mean some postponed engagements. |
|  | | King Charles announced that he was receiving treatment for an ‘enlarged prostate’ last week. Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images |
| | | Catherine, the Princess of Wales, faces a much longer road to recovery after her operation in The London Clinic hospital last week. |
| | It will be months of recuperation at home, stretching beyond Easter before she returns to official duties. Prince William has visited her, and we’ve heard that the princess was “doing well,” but we’ve not had any more significant details of her condition. |
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|  | | Catherine, Princess of Wales, had planned abdominal surgery last week. Credit: Kin Cheung/ PA Wire |
|  | | Prince William was pictured leaving The London Clinic hospital where Kate had her surgery. Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images |
| | There was another unexpected health story when we heard that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, after a diagnosis of breast cancer last summer. |
| This has been tough news, despite her reputation for bouncing back, including her recent reappearance with the Royal Family at Christmas for the first time in decades.
A source close to the duchess told me: “Clearly a second cancer diagnosis within six months is a lot to deal with and has been a shock, but she’s a resilient person.” |
|  | | King Charles announced that he was receiving treatment for an ‘enlarged prostate’ last week. Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images |
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| | | | | What do we know about royal health? | The one question that royal correspondents kept being asked this week is “What’s happening to Kate?”
In complete openness, we don’t know any more details, even if people might assume we’re keeping it quiet. Medical issues are private. Beyond the information about her “abdominal surgery” that’s been put into the public domain, there are no extra secrets being shared by the palaces with BBC royal journalists. |  | | The Princess of Wales is expected to stay in hospital for up to two weeks after her planned surgery. Credit: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu/Getty Images |
| But your emails show how opinions vary about how much should be shared. As well as the good wishes, there are some self-declared royal supporters who expect more transparency. Others say the priority should be privacy.
There were also comments about private health care. Was it an opportunity missed not to use the NHS?
|  | | Police officers stood guard outside The London Clinic where the princess was being treated. Credit: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images |
| Many details of these illnesses remain understandably vague, hidden by the equivalent of a media hospital screen. But it shows once again the complicated boundaries over what’s private for a public figure.
It was also a reminder that while debates about the monarchy are often presented in binary terms as “for” or “against”, attitudes to royalty have a lot of nuanced shades in between. |
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| | Shell we meet again? | Prince Edward, King Charles’s youngest brother, visited St Helena in the south Atlantic this week and encountered Jonathan, a 192-year-old tortoise, who has previously met Queen Elizabeth II and King George VI.
This photo of the historic moment caught our eye. What’s your funny caption? Send us your thoughts. |
|  | | Credit: St Helena Island/FINN Partners |
|  | | Credit: St Helena Island/FINN Partners |
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| | | | | Jamming in Jamaica | There was surprise this week and questions about why Prince Harry and Meghan had appeared in Jamaica for the premiere of the movie Bob Marley: One Love, about the life of the reggae star.
This included a photo with the Jamaican PM Andrew Holness who wants to move the country towards being a republic. |  | | Harry and Meghan at the premiere standing next to the Jamaican PM Andrew Holness, his wife Juliet Holness, who is a member of the Jamaican parliament, and Jamaican politician Olivia Grange. Credit: Jason Koerner/Getty Images/Paramount Pictures |
| Sources close to the couple told me that they were delighted to be there as longstanding fans of Bob Marley’s “music and message”.
They’d been invited to the premiere by the family of Brian Robbins, CEO of Paramount Pictures.
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| Lobbying Labour over the monarchy | It’s going to be an election year in the UK and the polls are showing a strong Labour lead.
A group trying to influence Labour policy on the monarchy, Labour for a Republic, said this week they would want a future Labour government not to “shy away from a serious debate on what sort of head of state we need”.
This isn’t the leadership of the Labour party speaking, which is unlikely to want to stir such a debate. But Labour for a Republic want to raise the question of challenging “hereditary titles”. |  | | Anti-monarchy campaigners protesting in Trafalgar Square during the Coronation last May. Credit: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures/Getty Images |
| It pointed to a poll by YouGov, commissioned by the anti-monarchy group Republic, showing significant backing for an elected head of state among Labour supporters.
This adds to a picture of the divides in attitudes towards the royals, such as polls consistently showing that young people are much more likely to be sceptical about the monarchy.
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