King and Queen to host palace reception to celebrate work of cancer groups

The King and Queen are to host a royal reception to shine a light on initiatives to support people living with cancer.

Charles and Camilla will be joined by cancer charity champions including radio presenter Adele Roberts, former footballer Ashley Cain, actor Richard E Grant, and Heather and Alistair James, the parents of the late Dame Deborah James.

The King, who is still undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with cancer last year, will celebrate community-based projects raising awareness of the disease at the Buckingham Palace event next Wednesday.

The monarch and Camilla will meet representatives from their cancer charity patronages, Macmillan Cancer Support, Breast Cancer Now, Maggie’s and Children’s Hospice South West.

Displays at the reception will showcase groups such as Move Dance Feel, which unites women affected by cancer through dance, Rainbow Boxes, which offers practical items as people start cancer treatment, and Wigs for Heroes, which supports people undergoing cancer treatment.

The King and Queen will also watch a short performance by the ITV Change + Check Choir, made up of 26 women who all spotted their breast cancer symptoms after seeing the awareness campaign on Lorraine Kelly’s ITV1 programme Lorraine.

Charles and Camilla will be joined by the Duchess of Gloucester, who is patron of Prostate Cancer UK.

Roberts was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021 but announced she was free of the disease in 2022.

She set a Guinness World Record as the fastest woman to complete the London Marathon with a stoma in a bid to raise money and awareness of bowel cancer in younger age groups.

Cain’s eight-month-old daughter Azaylia died from leukaemia in 2021, and the former Coventry City footballer and Ex On The Beach star has raised thousands in her memory.

Grant’s wife, Joan Washington, died from lung cancer and the actor has told how the King was “extraordinarily kind” to her, visiting her before she died.

Dame Deborah died in June 2022 at the age of 40, five years after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Her Bowelbabe fund has raised more than £16 million since it was launched.

She was awarded her damehood for her tireless campaigning by the now-Prince of Wales, whose wife the Princess of Wales is now in remission from cancer.

Dame Deborah’s mother Heather, who continued her daughter’s fundraising work, and her father Alistair have spoken of their pride at what she achieved.