The queen has finally broken her silence on the ordeal of keeping a secret, revealing that it was 'quite difficult' not to spill the beans about King Charles's cancer diagnosis before the palace got around to announcing it.

In a short film released on Wednesday to mark Maggie's cancer support charity's 30th anniversary, Camilla confessed that during an official visit to a Maggie's centre in January 2024, she was 'longing to let it out' but managed to restrain herself. As Maggie's president, she was launching a new centre at the Royal Free hospital in London on 31 January 2024, just days after Charles had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer - though the public only learned of it on 5 February, five days later.

'I remember coming to see a Maggie's just after the king being diagnosed. Nobody could say anything at the time. That was quite difficult,' she told Maggie's chief executive, Dame Laura Lee, in a conversation filmed at Clarence House. 'I almost said something but, you know, I felt that it wasn't the time to say.'

Camilla described looking at the visitors at the centre and feeling the weight of her secret: '[I] looked at everybody who was suffering and all the relations and I think it made me realise even more how important these places were.' She told Lee, 'I was just longing to let it out but obviously I couldn't.'

During the engagement, she found herself 'almost questioning them' but didn't 'want to pry too deeply.' 'But normally when I went in, I was just talking to them, but I don't know, I felt it was much more deep,' she said.

Charles, who was initially recovering from treatment for an enlarged prostate, returned to public-facing engagements in April 2024, less than three months after his treatment began. Camilla noted his stubborn refusal to slow down: 'Look at my husband. Nothing stopped him. He just said, "This is my way. I'm going to cope with it."'

She also reflected on the personal shock of the diagnosis: 'It had never really come back to roost at home, and suddenly your husband is diagnosed, and you think "Goodness I've been talking to all these people and now I'm the one with some relation, who's got to help to look after my poor husband and try and understand it all."'

Camilla released the seven-minute film to highlight the vital support Maggie's offers cancer patients and to promote services for relatives, especially men who may be more reluctant to seek help. She called for every hospital to have a Maggie's centre. Maggie's currently operates 27 drop-in centres near NHS hospitals across the UK, providing free emotional and practical support to hundreds of thousands of people each year, with no appointments necessary.