Sean CoughlanRoyal correspondent
Reuters
King meets staff and patients at Smethwick's new hospital
King Charles joked with hospital patients on a visit to Birmingham about the challenge of growing up.
When Jacqueline Page, 85, told him she was “exhausted”, he told her: “That's the terrible thing I found. When you're over 70, the drill bit is not working well.”
The King's trip to Birmingham was his first engagement in the fall, after being postponed after falling ill after an adverse reaction to cancer treatment.
When the patient said the king seemed to be recovering, he replied, “I'm not too bad yet, thank you.”
Reuters
Jacqueline Page tells the king that she remembers his visit in the middle of the 1970s
King Charles officially opened Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick.
He told the staff: “I'm sorry, I didn't get here a few months ago.”
When he talked to Mrs. Page, she remembered a visit to the Central Region in the 1970s – while he was flying a helicopter there.
The king said that the passage of time was “terrifying”.
He also spoke with Matthew Shinda, who is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, and told the king about the delay in diagnosis.
The king said, “I am very sorry for this, it's frustrating.”
The King talked about advances in healing, but sympathized with it, for those in need of help at the moment, it was hope, but could still “go on”.
The men joked whether they could drink in the hospital – Sinda's daughter said her father “loved his malt.”
“Do they occasionally give you a little silk whiskey?” asked the king. “I know I should bring one.”
He also claimed that this “should be very good for the heart”.
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King discusses immunotherapy with Phillip Barnard
Phillip Barnard, who was treated for lung cancer, talked with the king about receiving immunotherapy.
“This has become very common,” the king said.
The hospital opened last October and the king was introduced to Hernata Yonas, the first baby born there, who arrived 90 minutes after the obstetrics ward opened the door.
The hospital’s patients, staff and volunteers also had selfies and handshakes as they came to visit Royal visitors.
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The King heard about Cardinal Newman's speech in Birmingham
Earlier in the day, the King visited the speech of St Philip Neri of Birmingham, founded by the 19th-century Catholic theologian and philosopher Cardinal John Henry Newman.
He told the church clergy, “I have tried it for five years.”
The king had worked for many years to build bridges between faiths and participated in the classicization of Cardinal Newman of Rome when Newman was declared a saint.
The king was presented with many personal items belonging to Newman and showed a strong interest in the original handwritten copy of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, which was based on Newman's poem.