PR Expert Tells Us King Charles' Statement Prioritizes Positivity Over Personal Details
King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer, and, instead of keeping it quiet, he and his team decided to tell the public about it via a statement from Buckingham Palace on February 5, which marked the first day of his cancer treatments. Five days later, the palace released another statement, this one a thank you directly from King Charles to his well-wishers. It was written in the first person as compared to the original statement, which was written in the third person from "His Majesty." But even with that more personal perspective, it's not all about him. The List spoke with Eden Gillott, president of Gillott Communications and crisis management expert, about what there is to glean from this latest update from the palace.
"King Charles' statement is brief and positive," Gillott said. "The statement does an excellent job of showing gratitude while swiftly shifting attention towards others." Indeed, it's just one sentence of thanks for those who've sent him support, and then King Charles pivoted to talking about others who have faced a similar situation and those who help cancer patients and their families.
King Charles is keeping much about his health to himself
Eden Gillott went on to explain to us why she feels King Charles III may have felt compelled to release a statement within a week of the news breaking that he was receiving cancer treatment. "If he were to fall quiet for too long, speculation would swirl more rapidly regarding his health." The avoidance of speculation was specifically included in the first Buckingham Palace statement as to one of the reasons that they were publicly revealing his diagnosis.
In the thank-you response, Gillott explained that "even though he didn't share details — positive or negative, this statement is a way of checking in." That check-in goes a long way to help present the king as not overly worried about his swift return to full health. The first public comments from William, Prince of Wales about King Charles' cancer also provided hope that the king's condition wasn't dire, and this statement seems to help reinforce that.
Despite wanting to avoid speculation, there are still plenty of unanswered questions with the king's latest statement. There wasn't any information about what type of cancer he was diagnosed with, what type of treatment he's undergoing, how the cancer is responding to the treatment, and how he feels physically as the treatment has started. Then again, even a king is allowed some privacy.