King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis will not prevent him flying abroad next year for foreign visits, a Buckingham Palace official said, as the monarch wrapped up a tour of Australia and Samoa.

“We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” the official said late Saturday.

Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed cancer earlier this year but doctors agreed he could pause his treatment to allow him to travel to Australia and Samoa.

The palace announced in April that he would make a limited return to public duties, as doctors were “very encouraged” by his progress.

Britain’s King Charles III delivers a speech during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on October 25, 2024. (Photo by Manaui FAULALO / POOL / AFP)

The official added that the king had “thrived” on the tour’s programme which had lifted “his spirits, his mood and his recovery”.

“In that sense, the tour, despite its demands, has been the perfect tonic,” he added.

The tour was Charles’ first to Australia, where he is also head of state, since he became king following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

In this handout photograph released by Getty Images on October 26, 2024, Britain’s King Charles III and Britain’s Queen Camilla pose for a photograph during a visit to a beach in Apia, Samoa on October 25, 2024. (Photo by Chris Jackson / CHRIS JACKSON COLLECTION / AFP)

Charles and Queen Camilla left Samoa Saturday after the marathon 11-day tour that saw the king carry out more than 30 engagements.

The royal couple visited Sydney, Canberra and the Samoan capital Apia, where Charles attended a meeting of Commonwealth nations.

The 56-nation bloc — made up mostly of British ex-colonies — had hoped to focus on a future threatened by climate change, but instead bickered over a troubled past marked by slavery and colonisation.

AFP