King Charles Attends First Royal Event of the Year as His Cancer Treatment Continues

King Charles is appearing at his first official royal event of the year as his treatment for an unknown form of cancer continues.

On January 13, the King (76) hosted a Holocaust commemoration and educational event at Buckingham Palace in London. King Charles welcomed three organizations dedicated to educating the next generation about the Holocaust for an event marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on January 27 each year.

The outing came on the same day it was announced the king would travel to Poland on Holocaust Remembrance Day later this month, visiting the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for the 80th anniversary of its liberation.

It was a touching engagement for the king and his first public engagement in the new year while he continues his cancer treatment.

King Charles lights a candle during a Holocaust Remembrance Day reception at Buckingham Palace in London on January 13, 2025.

AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty

In February 2024, the palace announced that King had been diagnosed with cancer and had begun treatment, forcing him to suspend public duties for three months on medical advice. He resumed advanced work in late April and has since filled his schedule.

King Charles and Queen Camilla made their first appearance this year as his cancer treatment continues

Holocaust Remembrance Day honors the lives of the six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, as well as the millions killed under Nazi persecution and during the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The date of January 27 is related to the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, and this year marks a significant anniversary of that historic day.

King Charles speaks to guests during a reception marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at Buckingham Palace on January 13, 2025 in London, England.

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On January 13, the king met with Manfred Goldberg, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, and together they investigated the event. King Charles and Goldberg learned more about the work of the organizations gathered at the palace and their initiatives to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust lives on.

Goldberg, who survived concentration camps including Stutthof and the death march, previously met Prince William and Kate Middleton in Poland for a moving tour of Stutthof in July 2017. He later told PEOPLE how the royal couple played a part in keeping the Holocaust story relevant today is ” invaluable”.

King Charles is presented with a pewter ring that belonged to Holocaust survivor Zdenka Fantlova during a Holocaust Remembrance Day reception at Buckingham Palace in London on January 13, 2025.

AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty

King Charles saw a moving display of candlesticks created for the Holocaust Remembrance Foundation’s “80 Candles for 80 Years” project and a demonstration of the Holocaust Education Foundation’s “Testimony 360: People and Places of the Holocaust” digital program for use in schools.

He also watched a performance from “Echo Eternal”, an artistic collaboration between CORE Education Trust and The National Youth Music Theatre, in which schools and youth groups create artistic responses to the stories of British Holocaust survivors.

Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg poses next to his portrait during a Holocaust Remembrance Day reception at Buckingham Palace on January 13, 2025 in London, England.

Aaron Chown – WPA collection/Getty

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On December 20, aides reported that the king’s treatment would be extended until 2025, “moving in a positive direction” as a “managed condition.”

“His treatment is going in a positive direction and as a controlled condition the cycle of treatment will continue next year,” palace sources said shortly before Christmas.

The King is planning tours of the UK and abroad in 2025, similar to his calendar at the end of last year.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education