King Charles and Queen Camilla, along with other members of the British royal family, welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, to the U.K. for a state visit. However, all anyone could talk about was the king’s appearance as he was seen with a badly bloodshot eye, which prompted concerns about the monarch’s health amid his cancer battle.

Royal fans recall that in January 2024, King Charles shared that he was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. Then, in early February, the Palace announced that during that hospital stay, doctors did testing and discovered that he had cancer, although which type of cancer was not disclosed.

The monarch began treatment and while not much has been revealed about that, he was hospitalized briefly in March 2025 for temporary side effects of the cancer treatment.

With speculation about his health since then, some became concerned when they saw that the king’s right eye was bloodshot as he welcomed the Macrons on July 8.

However, Buckingham Palace released a statement to make everyone aware that it is not a result of his ongoing treatment and there is no cause for alarm, saying it was caused by a burst blood vessel in his eye that appeared overnight.