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Queen Camilla says it was ‘difficult’ to keep King’s cancer diagnosis secret

By CNN

(CNN) — Britain’s Queen Camilla has spoken about how she struggled to keep King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis a secret during a visit to a cancer support center, which took place days before the news was officially disclosed.

Camilla recounted how it was “quite difficult” not to mention her husband’s diagnosis during the visit to a cancer support center run by the charity Maggie’s in 2024.

Her comments were made in a short film to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary, reported the UK’s PA Media news agency.

The Queen visited a newly-opened Maggie’s center at the Royal Free Hospital in London on January 31, 2024, but Charles’ diagnosis wasn’t officially announced until February 5.

“I remember coming to see a Maggie’s just after the King being diagnosed,” said the Queen. “Nobody could say anything at the time. That was quite difficult.”

“I almost said something but, you know, I felt that it wasn’t the time to say,” she said, adding: “I was just longing to let it out but obviously I couldn’t.”

Charles announced he had been diagnosed with cancer after undergoing a prostate procedure. In December last year, in a rare update, he revealed that he had responded well to treatment.

Camilla, who is president of Maggie’s, described how her “poor husband” had persevered with his royal duties despite his cancer diagnosis.

“Nothing stopped him. He just said ‘This is my way. I’m going to cope with it,’” she said.

Charles, 77, returned to public-facing royal engagements in April 2024.

The King is still receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Maggie’s has 27 cancer support centers around the UK and supports hundreds of thousands of people affected by cancer per year.

Laura Lee, the charity’s chief executive, was filmed in conversation with Camilla for the documentary.

“To hear her speak so powerfully of her own emotions when visiting our Royal Free center, while knowing about His Majesty’s diagnosis, is a huge honor,” she said.

“The King’s openness about his diagnosis has undoubtedly helped others to be more open themselves and to now hear the Queen’s completely understandable and natural response as a wife shines a light on why it is so important that family and friends also get the support they need,” added Lee.

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What we know about Hayden Panettiere’s sudden death and who was with her

By CNN
(CNN) — By all accounts, Hayden Panettiere’s new life was just getting started.The actress who shot to fame playing an indestructible cheerleader in the NBC show “Heroes” was far more vulnerable in real life. Mental health challenges, postpartum depression and addiction plagued her young adult years and temporarily halted the career that began when she was less than a year old.But this year, Panettiere addressed her struggles in a memoir and spoke publicly about losing her brother. And her career was making a comeback, with her latest film released in January.So when the 36-year-old was pronounced dead in a South Carolina apartment where police reported she was with a man identified as her boyfriend and his brother on Sunday, shock and grief stretched around the world.“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace,” Lesley Vogel, Panettiere’s mom, told NBC News through tears on Tuesday.Panettiere said there was no relationship between her and her mother earlier this year on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast.Here’s what we know (and don’t know) about Panettiere’s death:She suffered cardiac arrest at a home she was temporarily staying inMedics responded to a 911 call about a “reported cardiac arrest” around 1:51 p.m. Sunday at a residence in Greenville, the county coroner’s office said.The report came from the Judson Mill Lofts on Easley Bridge Road, Greenville police said. The coroner’s office said Panettiere, a California resident, “had been temporarily staying” at the apartment complex, but authorities did not say who lived at the residence.First responders arrived and found Panettiere in cardiac arrest, the coroner’s office said. Dispatch audio obtained from Broadcastify.com references a possible overdose and CPR in progress, though authorities have not addressed whether an overdose actually took place.Medics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Panettiere, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:32 p.m., the coroner’s office said.Panettiere’s reported boyfriend and his brother called 911, police sayA Greenville police officer arrived at the scene and interviewed brothers Brian and Zach Hickerson, who said they called 911, a police report states.“I spoke with Zach Hickerson first, he advised this was his brother’s girlfriend,” the officer wrote in the report.Brian Hickerson showed the officer a bag of Panettiere’s medications, the report said. But many details of the police report are redacted, including a list of Panettiere’s medications.CNN has reached out to Brian and Zach Hickerson for comment.No obvious signs of trauma were foundAn autopsy performed Monday revealed no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death, the coroner’s office said.The official cause and manner of death have not been determined, pending the results of additional testing. Toxicology tests, which are standard in many death investigations, can take weeks to complete.Panettiere detailed domestic abuse in memoir months before deathIn a candid memoir published less than three months before her death, Panettiere detailed the evolution of a once-exciting, new relationship that quickly escalated into years of domestic violence by a man she referred to only as “Brian.” The actress wrote about heated, many times drunken, arguments ending with him slapping and hitting her between screams: “One night he busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks.”“You never forget the first time someone slaps you,” she wrote. “Nor do you forget the last.”According to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office, in 2019, a Brian Hickerson was convicted of two felony charges of “Injuring a Spouse, Cohabitant, Fiance’s, Boyfriend, Girlfriend or Child’s Parent,” and sentenced to four years of formal probation.Panettiere also wrote about at least three different instances where “Brian” was arrested after he’d hit her during a fight, including on Valentine’s Day in 2020 while the couple was on vacation in Wyoming.In May 2026, Brian Hickerson did an interview with TMZ, saying he had read Panettiere’s then-new book, acknowledging that he “had a lot to drink and I got physical with (Panettiere) and I got arrested,” on February 14, 2020. He called the parts of the book detailing domestic violence “my chapter. Everybody should read it.”CNN’s Lisa Respers France and Sara Smart contributed to this report.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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