King Charles health update given amid hopes for Kate to have ‘autumn comeback’ – live

The King and Queen have left Crathie Kirk by car after the hour-long service.

Also at the service was Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, who had stayed overnight at Balmoral Castle as a guest of the King.

The guest preacher at the service attended by the King and Queen described the anniversary as “particularly significant and poignant for the royal family”.

Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said he had remembered the royal family in his prayers during his sermon, and it was a privilege to preach to the King, the Queen and rest of the congregation.

After the service, he described how the King was “very well known and liked” in the local community around Balmoral and is “very much part of it”, just like the late Queen.

Dr Paterson said: “It was a privilege to preach to the congregation of Crathie Kirk, which included King Charles III and members of the royal family.

“This weekend is particularly significant and poignant for the royal family, indeed for all of us in Scotland, across the wider UK and Commonwealth, because the 8th of September marks the second anniversary of the death of Her Majesty the Queen and His Majesty’s accession to the throne.

“Like his late mother, His Majesty is very well known and liked in this community and is very much part of it. I remembered the royal family, along with all the people of this parish and the wider nation and Commonwealth in my prayers.”

The King acceded to the throne two years ago, immediately upon the death of the late Queen.

One Thursday September 8 2022, rumours begin to reach newsrooms early in the morning that the Queen has taken ill at Balmoral Castle, and possibly had a fall.

At 10.30am, the then-Prince of Wales made a 120-mile dash by helicopter from Dumfries House to Balmoral after being alerted to the Queen’s worsening condition. Charles visited his mother and later went foraging for mushrooms on the estate as he contemplated his accession and imminent duty as king.

At 3.10pm, Elizabeth II – the nation’s longest reigning monarch – died at the age of 96 in her bedroom in the castle, with Anne at her bedside.

Charles, who immediately became King, was at the wheel of his car on his way to Balmoral after his mushroom-foraging trip on his Birkhall estate. He pulledover to take the phone call, confirming the news, in which he was addressed as “Your Majesty” for the first time.

He received condolences from Camilla, the new Queen, and others accompanying them. He put the car into gear and continues the drive to Balmoral.

At 7.04pm, Charles issued his first statement as King, and describes his mother’s death as “a moment of the greatest sadness”.

One of those who gathered to see the King arrive at Crathie Kirk was Diane Brandish, a tourist visiting Scotland from Christchurch in New Zealand.

She said catching sigh of the King was an unexpected “bonus” in her holiday, saying: “We happened to be coming by and I didn’t realise that King Charles would be here.”

She added: “Most people in New Zealand follow the royal family quite closely and are aware of the anniversary.”

Diane and her husband saw the King waving at the crowd as he entered the church, saying “he was very gracious”.

The royal family has paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II on the second anniversary of her death.

The monarchy’s official social media account posted a photograph on X of the late Queen, in a pink hat and matching outfit, smiling at a summer Buckingham Palace garden party in 2019, alongside the words: “Remembering Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022.”

The King’s health is “heading in a very positive trajectory”, royal sources have said, as he marks the second anniversary of his accession to the throne.

Charles’, second year as sovereign has been filled with health concerns, having been diagnosed with cancer and dealing with ongoing treatment alongside his royal duties.

But a source said Charles had coped with the past year with a “determination to be as public as he was able” to reassure the nation about how much he could still do.

The King spent around three months away from public-facing duties and returned in April with a visit to a cancer centre in London.

He had a high profile run of engagements through the next few months with D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations in Portsmouth and Normandy, Trooping the Colour, the incoming Japanese state visit, a short trip to Jersey and Guernsey, the appointment of a new Prime Minister after Labour’s landslide general election, and the State Opening of Parliament.

The King and Queen are gearing up for an important tour to Australia and Samoa in the autumn – their first major overseas trip since news of Charles’s cancer was announced.

“Health has to remain the number one priority, albeit heading in a very positive trajectory,” the source said.

The King has arrived at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral on the second anniversary of his accession to the throne and the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Charles and the Queen were driven to the tiny granite church on Royal Deeside in the late summer sunshine for the Sunday morning service.

The King could be seen in the back seat of the maroon state Bentley with Camilla at his side as they headed to the place of worship at 11.25am, making their way up the drive, past the traditional red phone box which stands on the corner.

The King is to attend church near Balmoral for private prayer and reflection in remembrance of his mother Queen Elizabeth II on the second anniversary of her death.

Charles will head to Crathie Kirk, where the late Queen worshipped, for Sunday morning service, two years on from his accession to the throne.

The King, 75, has been staying on his Aberdeenshire estate in the Highlands, where his mother died peacefully at the age of 96 on September 8 2022.

At Charles’s side will be Queen Camilla, with the pair spending the summer at their haven in Scotland after the challenges of the past nine months.

The Princess of Wales is hoping to join the royal family at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday and host her Christmas carol concert, according to reports.

Kate, who has undergone months of chemotherapy treatment for cancer, is “potentially” set to join the King on November 10 at the national service in Whitehall in honour of those who died in conflict, The Sunday Times said.

Planning is also said to be under way for her annual televised Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey in December, if she continues to have “more ‘good days’”, the newspaper revealed.

Kate, 42, has made two official public appearances since her diagnosis – attending Trooping the Colour in June and presenting the Wimbledon men’s trophy in July.

No date has been set for her return to public life, but the princess is understood to be holding more regular meetings as she works from home, having enjoyed the summer with the Prince of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.