King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer this year after treating an enlarged prostate. His daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, completed chemotherapy in September.

King Charles III has used his Christmas message to hail the efforts of healthcare workers and all those who support others, before praising the medical staff who provided “strength, care and comfort” during his and the Princess of Wales’ cancer treatments.

The British monarch recorded his annual holiday address from the chapel of a former hospital, rather than from a palace.

King Charles III is expected to use his annual Christmas message to highlight health workers, at the end of a year in which both he and the Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer.

After a year that saw both King Charles and Kate Middleton diagnosed with cancer, “Obviously it made sense it had some form of health connection," a source said

King Charles has strayed from royal tradition with his year’s Christmas speech. The monarch, 76, who opted to break tradition last year by writing the speech himself, has prerecorded his festive broadcast in a different location to that of previous years.

As Charles put it, “I am deeply grateful, too, to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement.”

Britain’s King Charles thanked medical workers who treated him and Princess Kate after their cancer diagnoses in his annual Christmas message on Dec. 25.

King Charles III is expected to use his annual Christmas message broadcast later in the day to highlight health workers. He and close members of the royal family attended Christmas Day services Wednesday at a church on Sandringham,