King Charles III has delivered a characteristically witty response after a fellow 77-year-old complimented him on how youthful he looked during a royal outing.
The King, 77, joined Queen Camilla, 79, for the opening day of the Sandringham Flower Show, hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society, on Wednesday.
Dressed in a beige suit with a maroon tie and using a walking cane, Charles and Camilla toured the floral displays, presented awards and spent time chatting with well-wishers gathered across the Sandringham estate.
One humorous exchange came when a member of the public, who revealed they were the same age as the monarch, called out that Charles “looked good for his 77 years”.
“It gets much harder, doesn’t it?” the King quipped in response, as reported by People.
While clearly delivered in jest, the exchange comes as Charles continues treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, following his diagnosis in February 2024.
The monarch has spoken only sparingly about his health, but in December revealed the “good news” that his treatment schedule would be reduced after responding well to medical care.
“Indeed, today I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year,” he said during a televised speech for Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign.
“This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years; testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”
The King’s latest quip follows another memorable joke about his health earlier this month during a visit to the Heroes on the Water charity on the Isle of Man.
Charles reunited with 104-year-old Second World War veteran James Fenton, whom he had first met at a VJ Day anniversary event in 2025.
“I wasn’t expecting to find you here,” Charles told Fenton as he sat beside him in footage shared by the royal family’s official social media accounts.
“I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time,” Fenton replied. “I hope you’re all well, sir.”
“Not too bad, thank you very much, but I don’t know how you do it. It’s bad enough at my age,” the King responded.
Meanwhile, the King’s Sandringham visit featured several other light-hearted moments, with another well-wisher commenting on his resemblance to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Footage shared by Hello! showed the fan telling the King, “You look so much like your mum,” to which he laughed and gave an inaudible reply.
Additionally, Charles shared a laugh with Camilla when they were shown a quirky floral display featuring flowers planted in an upcycled toilet.
The Sandringham estate was announced earlier this year as the new home of the RHS flower show, which will now be held there every three years, with the next event scheduled for 2029.