King Charles has given an unexpected response to a royal fan as he left the Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.
In the monarch’s first official outing since his cancer diagnosis became public, the 75-year-old attended the special service at St George’s Chapel with several other members of the royal family.
While the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, and their children were not present, King Charles’ sister Anne attended along with Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and Andrew, the Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
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WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Prince Charles greets fans outside St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
A small group of royal fans were given special permission to gather inside the castle walls and both Charles and Camilla went to greet them.
According to The Mirror, when one man shook the monarch’s hand he said: “Happy Easter, your Majesty. Keep going strong, keep going strong, never give in” to which Charles cryptically replied: “I have to obey my instructions!”
The service came just over a week after Princess Kate released an emotional video message announcing she had started a course of preventative chemotherapy.
The princess is thought to be spending the Easter holidays with William and her children as they adjust to her cancer diagnosis, which was discovered in post-operative tests after abdominal surgery.
The King’s attendance at church could be seen as a move to reassure the public amid concerns for his own health and after the shock news about his daughter-in-law.
The service is a smaller version of the usual Easter gathering, with fewer members of the royal family, after the King paused most public-facing duties while he is treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.
– With AAP