King Charles cancer diagnosis: Royal fans in Northern Ireland express sadness and support for monarch

Gail Redmond BEM, who leads a community charity Via Wings in Dromore Co Down, has met the monarch several times.

She met him when he visited the town in 2017 when he took a great interest in their work, seeing parallels with the work of the Princes Trust in helping young unemployed people.

"He was very nice," Gail said. "He was very interested in the project and what we were doing and was very courteous and took a lot of interest in our elderly volunteers."

She met him again at a garden party at Hillsborough Castle last year where he again inquired after their work."I thought that it was very sad that he had been diagnosed so early on in his reign, because he had put so much into his life and all of that training to be King. But for us as an organisation, he is very much our thoughts and our prayers are both with him and his family at this time."

Gail's mother Myrtle Kelly, who lives in Hillsborough, said she was "really shocked" to hear the news. She had met the king at Buckingham Palace in 2022 when she travelled there with her daughter to be awarded her BEM.

She also met him in Dromore in 2017, on both occasions finding him "very charming and gracious".

"I just felt he had waited so long to become king and was only crowned last year," she said of the cancer. "The family must be devastated - we've all experienced it in our own families or friends."

Jane Russell from Dromore met the King and Queen as they left a special service at Armagh Cathedral last year and in Dromore in 2017

"He was a gentleman," she said. "He was really nice and took time to speak to everybody.

"It was very sad to hear about his cancer. Unfortunately it hits almost every family one way or another."

Dromore DUP councillor Paul Rankin also met him after the service in Armagh, where the monarch quizzed him about NI's budget.

"He stopped and asked me about the budget for Northern Ireland at the time, which was slightly above my pay grade as a councillor to be honest, so I was impressed.

"I think everybody was taken aback and shocked by the diagnosis. But honestly we all wish him well and think about him in our prayers."