Balmoral summit for royal doctors as King Charles and Princess of Wales continue cancer treatmen

With both King Charles and his daughter-in-law, Catherine, undergoing treatment for cancer, it has been the most worrying year for the health of the Royal Family.

Now, His Majesty will have the chance to say a thank-you in person to his Royal Medical Household team as I hear that they are to stay at Balmoral, where the King and Queen Camilla are in official residence.

The team are visiting the Aberdeenshire retreat for a meeting to discuss all health matters relating to the Royal Family. ‘It’s an important get-together,’ a medical source tells me.

The Royal Medical Household is made up of the key physicians entrusted to care for the Royal Family. They are professionals at the top of their fields who also usually work across the NHS and privately. Unlike other departments in the Royal Household, the Medical Household is not listed on the royal website and details of it are not outlined publicly.

In June, the King personally honoured his top medical team amid his treatment for an unnamed form of cancer.

Dr Michael Dixon, head of the Royal Medical Household, and Charles’s GP Dr Fiona Butler – known as the Apothecary to the King – were recognised for their personal service

Dr Dixon was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) and Dr Butler is now a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO).

Awards of the Royal Victorian Order are in the King’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to those who have served the monarch or the Royal Family in a personal way.

Dr Dixon’s appointment as head of the Royal Medical Household following Charles’s accession drew criticism due to his outspoken support for alternative therapies.

Also honoured as an LVO was Michael Dooley for his role as the Queen’s physician.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment.

However, a royal source insists that the meeting is an annual event not related to the cancer treatment of the King or the Princess of Wales.