King’s first overseas trip since cancer diagnosis revealed with Charles jetting off to France to mark D-Day anniversary
THE King will make his first trip abroad since his cancer diagnosis to stand alongside World War II veterans in France and mark 80 years since D-Day - while William joins world leaders on the Normandy beaches.
Charles, 75, will travel across the English Channel to honour those who fought and died on the beaches of Normandy to defeat the Germans and free Europe of the Nazis.
He will be joined by the Queen, 76, at the UK's commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, near Gold Beach, on June 6.
Prince William, 41, will also be in France, and will join 25 heads of state and veterans from around the world at Omaha Beach.
The Prince of Wales will also attend the Canadian ceremony at Juno Beach.
A day earlier, the King will join the Queen, and Prince William, in Portsmouth, to launch the UK-based 80th anniversary commemorations.
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It comes after the King returned to public duty as doctors were pleased by his response to treatment for cancer.
Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will unveil a statue of a Second World War Canadian Royal Regina Rifleman and attend a reception in Normandy before a service of remembrance at Bayeux Cathedral.
The Princess Royal will also give a speech in remembrance.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will be with veterans and families at the Royal British Legion's Service of Remembrance at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
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The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will attend ‘D-Day 80: Remembering the Normandy Landings’, at the Royal Albert Hall.
Philippa Rawlinson, Royal British Legion's Director of Remembrance said: "These incredibly moving and poignaNt commemorations will be our last opportunity to host a significant number of Normandy veterans.
"We invite world leaders and the nation to pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifices they made 80 years ago.
"The legacy left by Second World War veterans lives on in the freedom and democracy we have today."
On Monday June 3, some of the surviving D-Day veterans will meet modern-day Royal Marines and schoolchildren and watch a flypast The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Early on Tuesday June 4, veterans will set sail from Portsmouth recreating their journey from 1944.
Then on June 5, in Portsmouth there will be more than 500 members of the Armed Forces including a 79-piece orchestra, a 25-strong choir and Royal Marines drummers.
In Normandy, hundreds of servicemen will parachute into Normandy to recreate the pre-D-Day drop.
There will also be a joint UK--French service of thanksgiving hosted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Bayeux Cathedral.
And there will be a stunning lightshow in the skies above Portsmouth.
On D-Day itself, UK's commemorative event will be held at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, on June 6
It will conclude with the Last Post, two-minutes silence and flypast from the Red Arrows and The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
The announcement comes just hours after Charles beamed on stage with Camilla by his side in London on Thursday night.
The Monarch was the special guest at a gala being hosted at the Royal Opera House.
Charles' appearance comes after palace sources said he was working on "supercharging his diary" as he returned to public duties.
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Buckingham Palace revealed the King had cancer on February 6 after a prostate operation.
And announced at the end of April that he was well enough to return to front line duties.
