King Charles and Queen Camilla take private trip to India
By Max Foster and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN
(CNN) — Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla made a surprise pitstop in India as they returned from their royal tour to Australia and Samoa.
The 75-year-old monarch and his wife reportedly enjoyed a quick break in Bengaluru, staying for a few days at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre, according to Reuters citing multiple Indian media outlets.
The pair have visited India on numerous occasions over the years and previously paid a visit to the wellness center, which offers Ayurvedic and homeopathic treatments, yoga and meditation sessions.
“Their Majesties had a short private stopover in India to help break the long journey back from Samoa,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday. “They return to the UK this morning.”
The center is described as “a holistic health destination to restore your body’s natural balance of mind, body and spirit” on its website.
A royal source told CNN the stopover was not connected to the King’s health beyond advice to include appropriate periods of rest as part of the long-distance tour. A typical journey from the Samoan capital of Apia back to London is over 30 hours on commercial carriers and requires at least one stop.
The couple broke up the journey at a location both were familiar with and had visited several times before, the source added.
The source also said that the King will resume his cancer treatment upon his return to the UK.
Charles’ journey to Australia and Samoa was his first long-haul, multi-country trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. He wrapped up the tour at the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on Saturday. Leaders ended the week-long summit in Samoa, saying the time had come for a discussion on whether Britain should commit to reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.
The King is expected to return to regular overseas trips in 2025, according to Britain’s PA Media news agency.
Charles will carry out trips in the spring and autumn, on the regular foreign royal tour schedule, so long as doctors sign off on the journeys.
A palace official described the King’s recent trip as a “perfect tonic” that had lifted “his spirits, his mood and his recovery.”
“We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour program for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” PA reported citing the palace official.
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