The most surprising thing about the disclosure that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer after less than two years on the throne is the fact that it’s been disclosed at all. Cancer is common; candor about the British royal family’s health, not so much. Over the centuries, like many royal families, it has gone to great lengths to hide the condition of the sovereign’s body. Healthy king, healthy country. The idea of a physically disabled heir was unthinkable, especially in a country where the aristocracy defined itself by its military prowess.

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Persons: King Charles III, it’s, Hans Holbein’s, Henry VIII, Shakespeare —, propagandizing —, Richard III, Henry’s, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Wilhelm’s Locations: English, Leicester