The King’s nephew sat for a wide-ranging interview with Sky News Australia over the weekend and gave updates on his health and spoke of a potential royal visit to Australia.
Peter Phillips, who is in Australia in support of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture, spoke of King Charles’s health, noting that he’s in “good spirits” but is frustrated at the how long treatment is taking.
“I think, ultimately, he’s hugely frustrated,” Peter said. “He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do. But he is very pragmatic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself.”
But in typical King Charles fashion, according to Peter, he’s pushing to work more and get back to it. “He is always pushing, his staff and everybody and his doctors and nurses to be able to say ‘Actually come on, you know, can I do this? Can I do that?’”
Peter said that King Charles and Queen Camilla are “very keen” to visit Australia as soon as the King’s health is better, and “they would obviously love to see as many people as possible” and would want to be “accessible to as many people as possible.”
Australia is one of the Commonwealth realms where the monarch is still head of state, and Peter noted that every member of the Royal Family has friends in the country and have a “huge affinity” with the country.
Before the King’s cancer diagnosis was revealed, rumours of a royal tour to Australia bandied about the news—marking his first as monarch.
King Charles and Queen Camilla last visited Australia in 2018. They officially opened the Commonwealth Games and undertook engagements in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Bundaberg, Lady Elliot Island, Cairns, Mossman Gorge, Nhulunbuy, Yirrkala, and Darwin.