In his first overseas trip since his February announcement that he was undergoing cancer treatments, King Charles III will travel to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, as will Prince William and Queen Camilla.
Charles has long been a fixture at the June 6 events in Normandy and the UK, which annually mark the coordinated air and sea landings that led to the liberation of France and the eventual end of World War II. It was unclear if he’d be participating in person this year, given his recent diagnosis and a subsequent pause in royal duties.
That pause ended last month, when King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the Macmillan Cancer Centre at University College Hospital to meet with patients and staff. On Friday, Buckingham Palace announced that his schedule would gear up in June, with a series of events to mark what remains the largest seaborne invasion in history.
The commemorations begin on June 5, when Charles, Camilla, and Prince William will attend a ceremony at Southsea Common in the English city of Portsmouth, one of the primary starting points for D-Day troops in 1944. According to the BBC, that event will include “light displays, readings and music.”
From there, Charles and Camilla will travel to France, where they will visit the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer on June 6, Sky News reports. Along with officials from the Ministry of Defence and Royal British Legion, 23 surviving D-Day veterans are expected to attend.
