King Charles fears he’s ‘letting everyone down’ if he can’t carry out his public duties

King Charles is said to be feeling like a ‘caged lion’ while stuck at home undergoing his cancer treatment, his Royal pen pals have revealed.

According to the King’s close friends who have received personal letters, he has spoken of his ‘somewhat battered health’.

However, he is still reportedly beaming with optimism and he is ‘full of exclamation marks’ when he writes of his hopes of a full recovery.

It comes after it was revealed that Prince Harry and Charles are set to meet for the second time next week after his father’s shock cancer diagnosis. 

The King’s friend told The Times: ‘He holds himself to very high standards of public service and genuinely feels he’s letting people and organisations down if he’s not out there doing all those public bits of his formal role.’

King Charles is like a ‘caged lion’ while stuck at home undergoing cancer treatment, his Royal pen pals have revealed

Prince William is said to be worried about his ‘workaholic’ father following his cancer diagnosis

Prince Harry is next week set to meet with his father for the second times since his cancer diagnosis

Another source close to Charles put it more bluntly, however, telling the publication: ‘He’s a bloody caged lion, driving everyone round the twist if he’s stuck at home.’

Meanwhile, a third source said that Prince William is ‘worried’ about his ‘workaholic’ father’s pace and he ‘wants to make sure his father is balancing his recovery’. 

Yesterday, it was revealed that the King, 75, has taken on more than 200 new patronages from the late Queen following a major review of charities supported by the Royal Family.

Queen Camilla has also inherited several roles, including the presidency of the Sandringham Women’s Institute.

Most notably for Charles, he has taken on the Association of Commonwealth Universities – one of Meghan’s patronages before she and Harry stepped down as senior royals four years ago.

In March 2020, the Duchess of Sussex met with representatives from the ACU in private at Buckingham Palace for her penultimate royal engagement, inviting a small group of journalists – including her biographer Omid Scobie. He later wrote that she had taken the opportunity to whisper to him: ‘It didn’t have to be this way.’

Many will consider it a diplomatically astute move for the King to take on the role – not only because he is Head of the Commonwealth, but also because it might be considered inflammatory giving the role to William or Kate.

Following the news of Prince Harry’s rumoured meeting with his father, a royal expert told MailOnline it shows a thaw in frosty relations.

Richard Fitzwilliams, an expert on the royal family, said he expected Harry to visit his father during his cancer recovery at every possible opportunity – and has suggested their meetings could pave the way for a reconciliation with his brother William.

King Charles attends day three of the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Windsor Castle

King Charles, patron of Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, and Queen Camilla, arrive for a visit to University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre, London on April 30

Charles and Zara Tindall hug as as they greet each other at the Endurance event on day three of the Royal Windsor Horse Show

And while there could even be room for Meghan and grandchildren Lilibet and Archie to join him on a future visit, he anticipates Harry will have to rebuild the family’s trust after scathing attacks over the last couple of years. 

Mr Fitzwilliams said of the anticipated reunion. ‘I’m not surprised. It is naturally a normal thing for a son to want to do. 

‘But what has happened, of course, a relatively short period ago, we had (controversial memoir) Spare at the beginning of last year and attacks on the royal family in the interviews he gave to promote it. A lot of it was very, very unwise.

‘But the Sussexes have just beefed up their communications team with two new appointments and I think that is significant, because I think that they are paying more attention now to their PR, something they wouldn’t (have considered before).

‘Who advised Harry on Spare, when he told us how many Taliban he killed, when he discussed experimenting with drugs, penile frostbite, losing his virginity?

‘This was someone who was simply doing his own thing and wasn’t paying attention to the essential part of public relations – the importance of your brand.

‘But now they realise that your brand is very, very important and they are now in a situation where they are monetising their royal connections through Netflix and Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard.

‘But on the other hand, there have been no attacks on the royal family recently, nor will there be for rather obvious reasons.

‘The difficulty they now have is that they have to be trusted if they are going to build, or rebuild bridges, because I don’t think members of the royal family will trust the Sussexes.

‘The King has made clear his door is always open and obviously Harry is going to see quite a lot of him over the weeks and months ahead.

‘When there is serious illness you have a situation where privately, quitely, which isn’t the way the Sussexes do things normally, you have to have a meeting of minds.’