King Charles addresses UK riots and his cancer in Christmas speech

London: King Charles III on Wednesday thanked the medical workers in Britain who helped treat him and his daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, after their cancer diagnoses, and praised communities that came together after anti-immigrant riots gripped the country in the summer.

In his annual Christmas message, the British monarch spoke from the chapel of a former hospital, rather than from a royal palace, in a rare departure that was designed to emphasise his appreciation for health workers and volunteers.

“From a personal point of view, I offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed,” the king said.

His comments underscored the importance attached by people in Britain to the National Health Service, one of the country’s most revered institutions, which has become significantly overstretched after years of underinvestment and is still suffering the aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic.

In September, Catherine, also known as Kate, announced that she had completed chemotherapy treatment, and she recently hosted a carol service at Westminster Abbey, a significant return to royal duties. Charles, who disclosed in February that he, too, had been diagnosed with cancer, returned earlier to the public eye. In October, he visited Australia and — for a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government — Samoa.

That visit, the king said, was a reminder “of the strength which institutions, as well as individuals, can draw from one another,” and of “how diversity of culture, ethnicity and faith provides strength, not weakness.”

That comment seemed to chime with another part of his 10-minute broadcast on Wednesday in which Charles referred to the aftermath of riots that broke out in the summer following the killing of three girls, and the wounding of others, at a dance class in Southport, near Liverpool.

“I felt a deep sense of pride here in the United Kingdom when, in response to anger and lawlessness in several towns this summer, communities came together, not to repeat these behaviors but to repair,” the king said, adding that this was “to repair not just buildings, but relationships. And, most importantly, to repair trust.”

The broadcast was recorded in central London at Fitzrovia Chapel, which once belonged to the Middlesex Hospital and which is now used for community, artistic and other events.

Earlier on Wednesday, Charles, Queen Camilla, the prince and princess of Wales, and other royals attended a Christmas Day church service at Sandringham, where the British monarch usually spends the winter holiday.

It emerged last week that Prince Andrew, the king’s younger brother, would not join the annual gathering after reports about his links to a man suspected of spying for China.