
Royal family
A lip-reading expert has revealed what Queen Camilla said to King Charles when she saw how his eye looked.
As Queen Camilla and King Charles welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the U.K. for a state visit, the monarch’s wife couldn’t help but notice what everyone else did too.
The king was photographed as the Macrons arrived with a badly bloodshot eye. The monarch’s appearance was alarming enough that the Palace had to release a statement after some assumed it was tied to his ongoing cancer treatment. But it wasn’t just fans and royal watchers who were concerned, according to a lip reader, Camilla was as well and spoke to her husband about it as cameras rolled.
Here’s more on that, plus what the Palace shared about the king’s eye injury.
Lip-reading expert uncovers what Queen Camilla said to King Charles about his eye
While waiting to greet their French guests the king and queen were seen exchanging some quiet words, and now a professional lip reader has decoded what the two were saying.
Nicola Hickling is a lip-reading expert and the founder of LipReader, a company specializing in lipreading and expert witness reports. Hickling has spearheaded the development of innovative technologies and services that empower individuals with hearing impairments. She has also appeared in the likes of the Daily Mail, Page Six, Newsweek, and more.
Speaking on behalf of Fruity King, Hickling told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that Camilla initially checked how the king’s eye was saying to him: “Let me look at your eye … ooh, my goodness.”
According to Hickling, Camilla then told Charles how bad it was, noting that “The capillaries have broken in your eye.” The king then asked: “What’s it like?”
The two then began discussing how it may have happened with the queen wanting to know: “What did you do? Were you in the garden trying to do too much again? You can’t do what you used to do,” before Charles responded, “You forget, I find it rather difficult to relax unless I’m in the garden. It’s difficult to have a moment.”
Hickling then observed the queen say: “Okay, I’m just warning you. With your pain, you have to take it easy now.”
The Palace’s statement after the king’s appearance concerned fans
There’s been so much speculation about the king’s health since early 2024 when he shared that he was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. The Palace later 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.
However, Buckingham Palace insisted that what happened to King Charles’ eye had nothing to do with cancer treatment. Camilla was correct in her assessment, as the Palace confirmed that it was caused by a burst blood vessel in his right eye that appeared overnight.
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