King Charles tells of losing sense of taste as he discusses cancer treatment side effects
The King has spoken about losing his sense of taste as he discussed the side effects of cancer treatment.
During a visit in Hampshire, he made the remark as he spoke to a veteran who had previously undergone chemotherapy for testicular cancer.
The monarch is receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer and was given permission by his doctors to return to public duties last month.
Ahead of his first major investiture on Tuesday since his cancer diagnosis, the King officially handed over the role of colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William today.
The monarch and the heir-to-the-throne were pictured smiling while chatting together during a visit to the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, Hampshire, on Monday.
It came as Kensington Palace posted two photos of the Prince of Wales during previous visits to the Army Air Corps.
“Time flies! Looking back at the last two visits to @ArmyAirCorps in 1999 and 2008 ahead of today’s handover at Middle Wallop,” the post on X said.
The Army Air Corps is the Duke of Sussex’s old unit, in which he served as an Apache helicopter commander and co-pilot gunner during his second tour to Afghanistan in 2012.
The decision to hand the role to William, who served as a helicopter pilot with the RAF, was seen as a blow to Harry when it was announced last year.
Pic: PA
The prince took to the front seat of an Apache during his visit. Pic: PA
The King admitted the handover was “tinged with great sadness” – but hoped the Army Air Corps would continue to go from “strength to strength”.
He said: “Let me just say what a great joy it is to be with you even briefly on this occasion but also it is tinged with great sadness after 32 years of knowing you all, admiring your many activities and achievements through the time that I’ve been lucky enough to be colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps.
“I do hope you’ll go from strength to strength in the future with the Prince of Wales as your new colonel-in-chief.
“The great thing is he’s a very good pilot indeed – so that’s encouraging.”
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The King also unveiled a plaque commemorating an Apache AH Mk1 going on display, the first of its kind to be installed at a UK museum.
William will embark on his first engagement with the Army Air Corps on Monday afternoon, receiving a briefing on its work and inspecting training and operational aircraft.
After speaking to soldiers, he will then leave the base in an Apache as part of a capability flight.
William spent time with service personnel. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Read more:
King jokes about being ‘allowed out of my cage’
William and Kate release previously unseen photo
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
On Tuesday, the King will knight the Archbishop of Canterbury for his key role in the coronation, and bestow a damehood on bestselling author Jilly Cooper.
The monarch will greet 52 recipients in total, one by one, at Windsor Castle.
The King has invested a handful of people with honours over the past few months.
However, these ceremonies took place in private during individual audiences at royal residences.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway