The Tragic History Of Cancer In The British Royal Family

For centuries, members of the British royal family have lived lives of luxury, with the best of everything, from food to housing to medical care. But there are some great equalizers in life, and no matter how privileged they may be in every other way, the royals still face the same risk of cancer as their subjects do. 

Over the past century in particular, but further back in history also, the British royals have received many official and publicized cancer diagnoses. And at other times, while no official diagnosis was made, historians and medical professionals have a pretty good idea, based on recorded symptoms, that the individual had cancer. Like the rest of the population, the results of their bouts with cancer varied, with a few receiving treatment and surviving, others dying from the disease, and, in the case of living royals, some fights that continue in the present day.

From the Tudor period to the 21st century, this is the tragic history of cancer in the British royal family.

Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, died in 1861, aged just 42. Albert certainly didn't help himself: he kept a punishing schedule that exhausted him and aggravated his generally weak health. For decades, historians believed Albert died from typhoid –  a disease caused by inadequate sewage removal, causing food and water to be contaminated by fecal matter. Even royals were at risk of this endemic disease at the time.

However, the more recent consensus is that Albert probably had stomach cancer, and that is what killed him. For several years before his death, Albert had suffered from extreme stomach problems. Victoria described his symptoms as being violently painful spasms and cramps, and he admitted he would sometimes not eat in the hopes he wouldn't have stomach troubles for a bit. These were not minor incidents, either. They could last weeks at a time, often leaving him bedridden. 

On top of the agonizing pain he experienced, he had other symptoms that point historians in that direction, including swollen gums. Perhaps the biggest predictor of him having the disease is that it ran in his family: His mother had been just 30 years old when she died of stomach cancer. Victoria refused to let the doctors perform an autopsy on Albert, so there is no way of knowing for sure if he had cancer, and there are still historians who lean towards the typhoid theory, although the evidence for cancer is quite convincing.

King Edward VII (pictured center) was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and reigned from 1901 to 1910. He was a notorious hedonist and playboy, but perhaps he should be better known for helping advance the use of radium in cancer treatment.

In 1907, Edward was vacationing in what is now Czechia, and reporters noticed that every two days, he went to a certain hotel for about an hour. While many minds jumped to salacious possibilities, in reality, he was receiving a form of electrical treatment on a basal cell carcinoma — or "rodent ulcer" — on the side of his nose. During this skin cancer treatment something went wrong, and his majesty received an undignified electrical shock. Following that, his doctor was forced to find a different kind of treatment and turned to a relatively new radium therapy that was being used in France. However, Edward was so impatient that to keep the radium against his skin, it had to be applied to a special pair of glasses he could wear while he read the newspaper. 

The technique worked, and Edward was so happy with the results that he encouraged the founding of the Radium Institute in London. The year after his successful treatment, he wrote in a letter, "My greatest ambition is to not quit this world until a real cure for cancer has been found, and I feel convinced that radium will be the means of doing so!" (via "King Edward VII: A Biography" by Sir Sidney Lee).

Edward VIII gave up the throne not long after he ascended to it, abdicating in 1936. From then on, he was known as the Duke of Windsor, and he happened to be a very heavy smoker. By the time his throat cancer was discovered in 1971, it was inoperable. His wife, the controversial American divorcee Wallis Simpson, later said, "I told him to stop smoking all those cigarettes. ... He was always nervous about making speeches and that's why he smoked so much. He did cut down. ... But I guess it was still too much; it all added up" (via "The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson" by Greg King). The following year, more cancer was discovered, and it was clearly terminal. 

The treatments and symptoms left the duke weak and bedridden. As the end came, he was unable to leave his home in Paris. While he had effectively been banished from the royal family after his abdication, 10 days before he died, his niece Queen Elizabeth II came to visit him. He did not have the strength to come downstairs, but he insisted on getting out of his bed and sitting in a chair when she came up to his room.

The Duchess of Windsor had her own cancer scare years before. In 1944, she underwent an appendectomy, and during the surgery, doctors found tumors in her stomach. These turned out to be cancerous, but after they were removed, she did not have any recurrence of the disease.

It was not unexpected when Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She was, after all, 96 years old and had been in poor health for a while. In 2021, she'd spent a night in the hospital, and it was becoming common for her to cancel scheduled events at the last minute due to medical issues, especially problems with mobility. In one of the last photos of the monarch (above), she had dark bruising on her hands, and all these things combined meant it was no surprise that her official cause of death was listed as "old age."

However, in a book on the late monarch that was serialized in the U.K. tabloid The Daily Mail, a British media personality and close friend of the late Prince Philip named Gyles Brandreth dropped a bombshell: "I had heard that the Queen had a form of myeloma — bone marrow cancer — which would explain her tiredness and weight loss and those 'mobility issues' we were often told about during the last year or so of her life." 

Of course, no matter how well-connected to the royal family Brandreth was, even he frames this alleged diagnosis as something he "heard." The palace did not respond to the claim with either a confirmation or denial, although some royal watchers theorized that Brandreth must have had unofficial approval from the royal family to include this bit of information in the book.

In January 2024, King Charles III was admitted to the hospital for an operation on an enlarged prostate. In order to assure the public this was nothing to be concerned about, the palace made sure to note it was a very common scheduled procedure, and used the opportunity to remind men to talk to their doctors about their own prostate health. The surgery was evidently successful, with Charles soon returning home. A little more than a week after his operation, he was photographed walking to church and greeting some of his subjects. 

However, the day after this public appearance, the world learned that the British monarch had cancer. While the palace did not say what kind it was, reports indicated it was not prostate cancer, but whatever type it was, it was discovered during his prostate treatment. The palace released a statement (via NBC News) explaining, "During The King's recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer." It went on to say that the king would be receiving treatment, although no details on what kind were included, only that it meant he would not be fulfilling any public duties for a while. Additional information came from Prime Minster Rishi Sunak, who stated that the cancer had been caught early.

Prince Harry immediately returned to the U.K. from California when his father's diagnosis was announced, although Meghan Markle stayed behind with the children.

Henry VIII married Katherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, shortly after he became king in 1509. While they were happy together for many years, their lack of a son who lived past infancy – and the appearance of Anne Boleyn at the English court — eventually resulted in Henry going to great lengths to rid himself of his queen. Unlike some of his later wives, Katherine would keep her head. However, the king did everything else he could to make her life miserable after ending their marriage.

Katherine was effectively banished from court and made to live in increasingly uncomfortable castles. Most of her furniture was taken away. She was not allowed to see her only living child, the future Mary I, and her friends had to ask permission from Henry to visit her. However, the king's subjects still supported her, which annoyed him greatly.

Henry was kept well informed of Katherine's increasingly bad health. He believed she might have dropsy, and expected her to die any day, something which those close to the king knew would make him extremely happy. Katherine was 50 years old when she died on January 7, 1536. When her body was cut open in preparation for burial, it was discovered that her heart had a black growth on it. While at the time many of those who learned about this thought it proved Henry had poisoned Katherine, in reality, it was most likely melanotic sarcoma, aka cancer of the heart.

In 1821, Caroline of Brunswick arrived at Westminster Abbey dressed in formal robes, ready to be crowned Queen of England. Her long-lived father-in-law, George III, had finally died the year before, and her husband of 25 years was now George IV. There was just one problem with her plan — the king hated her, and she had been told in no uncertain terms not to come to the coronation. In fact, the government had tried to bribe her with a very large amount of money to not even be in England at the time. 

But Caroline was technically queen, and she wanted to be treated with the respect that position demanded. She pounded on the doors of the Abbey, ordering the pages to let her in, but she didn't get her way. Eventually, she gave up and returned home. The stress of the event had clearly taken its toll on her, as one day later, she collapsed, and within three weeks, she was dead. The uncrowned queen was 53.

Considering what an embarrassment she was to George, many people thought he had poisoned her. However, it's generally accepted by modern historians that she had stomach cancer, although it's possible her death might ultimately been the result of something like a ruptured bowel. Unlike George, the people of England loved Caroline, and during her funeral procession in London, they rioted, resulting in two deaths.

Anne Hyde died before her husband James became king of England, but his second wife, Mary of Modena, would get the title of queen consort — before losing it when James II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The couple and their children fled to the Continent and spent their remaining years trying to regain the throne for either James or their son.

Once she became a widow, Mary spent a lot of time in a French nunnery; in fact, she'd wanted to become a nun when she was a kid, before James decided he was going to marry her. The religious life suited her so well that some in France even brought up the possibility of sainthood for the ex-queen of England. While that never happened, she was buried at the convent.

Besides their shared husband, Anne Hyde and Mary of Modena had another thing in common: they both died of breast cancer. Mary knew she had been ailing for years, possibly as early as 1705. In 1715, she traveled to Bar-le-Duc, ostensibly to see her son, but most likely because the area had a long reputation for curing cancer, both by drinking the water there and seeing some of the resident medical specialists. The trip was not successful, however, and she died of breast cancer in 1718, aged 59. Neither her son nor her husband were ever returned to the English throne.

Anne of Cleves was by far the luckiest of all of Henry VIII's wives. While he went through with the marriage to his fourth wife in 1540, he then immediately tried to figure out how to get out of it. Only months after their marriage, Anne was offered a divorce, as well as the position of the "King's Sister." He also gifted her several homes and a yearly allowance. Anne knew a good deal when she saw it, and stayed in England, single and happy, for the rest of her life. She was one of the most important women at court, was friends with both her ex-husband and his daughters, and spent her time gambling and cooking. Household records show she was also very fond of beer, perhaps to be expected since her homeland of Cleves is in what is now Germany.

Towards the end of her life, Anne dealt with a lingering health issue. Historians think the most likely explanation was cancer, although, since no autopsy was performed, it is impossible to be sure. It became clear Anne was dying, though, so she made her will and got her affairs in order. She outlived Henry by 10 years, and died aged 41 when his daughter Mary I was on the throne, in 1557. Her friendship with the queen, the woman who had been her stepdaughter for just six months, was so great that Mary ordered Anne to be buried in Westminster Abbey, a great honor that none of Henry's other wives received.