The King and Queen spent the weekend at Highgrove, probably the least majestic of their residences.
Today there will be no big fanfare compared to the spectacle they experienced at Buckingham Palace last year on Coronation Day, just a private moment and perhaps an opportunity to reflect on how the year has been.
As a palace source put it, the contrast between a day of “cancer carriages, crowns and crowds” and doctors’ orders to withdraw from public life could not have been more extreme.
For King I’m told it’s been a time of “personal frustration that he can’t be more involved” in the way he normally would be, but his “appetite for work and passion for his causes has not diminished in any way.”
He was never a man content with simple reflection, he always wanted to see action.
This means that, alongside his treatment and carrying out his constitutional duties, he wants regular updates on the organizations run in his name.
Kristina Murrins of the King’s Foundation told me he still keeps them on their toes.
She said: “Things like the environment, where our food comes from, the importance of traditional crafts and education around that. to suddenly stop having these desires, I don’t think that would ever happen.”
Not least, it seems, because of his reputation as a workaholic, Kristina added: “I can confirm that the man works incredibly hard…absolutely his level of interest in still getting updates and hearing what was going on and wanting to know if the foundation’s work was still progressing was very important to him.”
One project he wanted to support around the time of his prostate procedure was Big Help Out. Part of Coronation weekend, the volunteering event returns in June.
He sees this as an important and lasting legacy of last year’s celebrations; as the King said in a message in January, an opportunity for all of us to show “kindness, compassion and service to others”.
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How he could still be seen serving during this time of ill health is clearly on his mind from the letters he sent and the conversations he had with those he trusted.
One person told me how he became determined to use his own experience with cancer to make a genuine impact on others going through it.
Last Tuesday he was announced as patron of Cancer Research UK.
Unexpectedly we also discovered last week he decided to take on more than 200 extra sponsorships.
And I’m told we should expect it to be busy with events in the coming months, such as Trooping the Colour, D-Day celebrations and a state visit from the Japanese in the plans, albeit with doctors keeping a close eye on everything the monarch he does.
No one wants to jeopardize the King’s cancer recovery.
The photograph released last weekend to mark his return to public duties and one year since his coronation was very deliberate.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla, taken by photographer Millie Pilkington, in Buckingham Palace Gardens on April 10. Photo: Millie Pilkington/Buckingham Palace/PA
I thought it was an unusual choice of image.
The king was returning to work, but the Queen was still the main focus, smiling at the camera as her husband looked at her lovingly.
He may be the monarch, but the palace wants us to see them as a couple who, like many others, faced the challenge of cancer together.
It was also an opportunity for the king to publicly recognize how his wife had distinguished herself in his absence.
Now, provisionally, back in the public roles he enjoys most, together they will continue the work they hope will truly define their moment in history.
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