Queen Camilla has spoken publicly for the first time about the emotional toll of privately knowing King Charles had cancer while carrying out an official engagement on the subject. She opened the new Maggie's Royal Free cancer support centre in London in January 2024, just five days before Buckingham Palace announced the King's diagnosis, meaning she interacted with patients and families facing similar circumstances while unable to reveal her own situation.

Speaking in a seven-minute film marking Maggie's 30th anniversary, filmed partly at Clarence House with the charity's chief executive Dame Laura Lee, Camilla described feeling unable to say anything at the time, admitting "I was just longing to let it out, but obviously I couldn't." She said the experience made her more determined that "every single hospital must have a Maggie's", and the charity reports a rise in interest since the King began speaking openly about his own cancer experience.