What Charles III’s illness says about monarchs and mortality

Britain has always been interested in its kings’ bodies. Each age has had its own particular obsession. For Shakespeare, it was the king’s head—the mortal brow beneath the hollow crown—that fascinated. After the Restoration it was the king’s hand—Charles II was believed to be able to heal diseases by touch alone. Now national attention has turned to the state of health.According to a statement from Buckingham Palace on February 5th, “a separate issue of concern was noted” while the king was being treated for an enlarged prostate. Subsequent tests “identified a form of cancer”. Quite which form has not been announced; a little royal distance remains. But when future historians come to chronicle the change from a “magical” monarchy, able to heal by touch alone, to the more humdrum mortal kind, this moment may feature: few things seem more mortal or less magical than a prostate.