Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday that Britain's King Charles will be absent from next week's Commonwealth Day engagements due to ongoing cancer treatment.
Queen Camilla will represent the monarch at the annual service at Westminster Abbey and the subsequent reception.
At 75, Charles, who leads the Commonwealth of 56 nations stemming from the British Empire, has withdrawn from public duties since his cancer diagnosis was disclosed last month, just over a year and a half into his reign.
While the king maintains his official state responsibilities and was seen meeting with finance minister Jeremy Hunt ahead of the budget statement to parliament, his return to regular public engagements remains uncertain.
Camilla will be joined by other senior royals, including Prince William, at the event. Notably absent will be William's wife, Kate, who has been absent from public life since undergoing abdominal surgery unrelated to cancer earlier this year.
The absence of both Charles and Kate, along with William missing an engagement last week due to a "personal matter," has sparked speculation and conspiracy theories on social media.
The British royal family typically keeps medical conditions private, but the proliferation of rumors on social platforms is challenging the tradition of maintaining a dignified silence.
Kate's office has pledged to provide "significant" updates on her condition and expects her to resume public duties after Easter. While the Ministry of Defence confirmed her attendance at a military parade in June, Kensington Palace has yet to confirm her participation in future events.
These developments follow the publication by U.S. celebrity news site TMZ of what it claims is the first image of the Princess of Wales since her January operation, showing her in a car near Windsor Castle with her mother. Photo by Arnaud Bouissou, Wikimedia commons.