The Queen has also suffered pneumonia, and the King’s sister, the Princess Royal, was hospitalised with a serious head injury after an accident with a horse.
“All of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life, be it mental or physical,” he said, but the “measure of our civilisation” is how people are supported at such moments.
The message, recorded earlier this month, expressed his gratitude for “selfless” medical professionals and volunteers who used their skills to “care for others – often at some cost to themselves”.
He acknowledged the help for others in his family and he thanked the public for their kind words and messages after his own cancer diagnosis was revealed.
The broadcast showed him meeting cancer patients, when he returned to public engagements in April, during a visit to University College London Hospital.
The King’s treatment will continue into 2025, but as a positive sign of progress, he is planning a busy schedule of visits and overseas trips next year.
Loading
Another major theme of the speech was community cohesion. The King praised the efforts of those who had sought to build bridges between communities after the summer riots, that had followed the knife attack in Southport.
“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 behaviours, but to repair. To repair not just buildings, but relationships,” he said.
“Diversity of culture, ethnicity and faith provides strength, not weakness,” said the King, who praised efforts to “respect our differences, to defeat prejudice”.
The King’s words echo the Christmas message given by his mother the late Queen Elizabeth in 2004, when she addressed community tensions, saying “diversity is indeed a strength and not a threat”.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
