Has any other royal family member recently had the same medical condition?
Executive summary
The British monarchy has publicly disclosed cancer diagnoses for two senior royals in the same recent period: King Charles III and Catherine, Princess of Wales, both of whom have been treated and temporarily stepped back from public duties while undergoing medical care [1] [2] [3]. Reporting confirms both announcements but does not provide matching details on cancer type or whether the conditions are medically identical, leaving that question unanswered in the public record [2] [1].
1. Two public cancer disclosures in quick succession
In 2024–2025 the palace made unusually public statements: King Charles III revealed he was being treated for a cancer after earlier outpatient care for an enlarged prostate, and Buckingham Palace and the Princess of Wales both disclosed that Catherine underwent abdominal surgery which subsequent tests revealed had uncovered cancer and led to preventative chemotherapy [2] [3] [1]. Multiple outlets framed this as a break from past royal secrecy about health, noting the rarity of such candidness about diagnoses [1] [4].
2. Same diagnosis on the books — but not necessarily the same disease
While both the monarch and the Princess of Wales have publicly described cancer diagnoses and treatment, the available reporting does not specify that they share the same type of cancer or identical clinical course; sources emphasize cancer generally without matching pathology or staging details, and journalists note that exact medical details have been withheld for privacy [2] [3] [1]. Therefore, the correct, evidence-backed conclusion is that other royal family members have recently had cancer, but it cannot be stated from the reporting that they had the same medical condition in a technical, disease-specific sense [2] [3].
3. Context and historical contrast: transparency versus tradition
Observers and commentators have pointed out that these disclosures mark a shift from the monarchy’s historical reticence about health matters — Queen Elizabeth II’s medical details were famously limited, and earlier royal illnesses were often veiled or politicized — and commentators say Charles’s earlier prostate treatment and his public framing aimed to promote awareness, a move labelled the “King Charles effect” in some analyses [1] [4]. That context explains why contemporary reporting highlights both the novelty of two cancer disclosures and the continued limits on detail; palace statements aim to balance public interest with personal privacy [1] [4].
4. Alternative angles and unresolved questions in the reporting
Medical historians and geneticists remind readers that royal families have long been associated with specific inherited illnesses, like haemophilia and debated claims of porphyria, and that those historical conditions are distinct from the cancers disclosed today — these older illnesses are subjects of genetic and archival study rather than current clinical overlap with the announced cancers [5] [6] [7]. Importantly, contemporary sources do not say the recent cancers are hereditary within the family, and no source in the set provides definitive clinical data tying the two cases together; thus any claim that the royals “share the same cancer” would exceed what the reporting supports [5] [6] [2].
5. Bottom line
Yes: other senior royals have recently had cancer — most notably King Charles III and Catherine, Princess of Wales — according to palace statements and major reporting [2] [3] [1]. No: the sources provided do not establish that their cancers are the same type or that one diagnosis is directly related to the other; the precise medical equivalence remains undisclosed in the public reporting [2] [1].