Though King Charles III stepped back from public engagements after announcing a cancer diagnosis in February, he continued on with other royal duties, including meetings with the Privy Council and other small events. On Tuesday, he traveled from Windsor Castle to London to host a small group of Korean War veterans at Buckingham Palace. On Thursday, he was spotted leaving Buckingham Palace after a day of royal engagements, including audiences with incoming ambassadors from around the world. Thursday’s visitors to the palace’s 1844 Room included Mbelwa Kairuki, the new high commissioner from Tanzania, and Ng Teck Hean, the new high commissioner for Singapore, who arrived with his wife, Mok Ling Ling.

This week, Queen Camilla gave an update on the king’s health during a solo trip to Northern Ireland. After receiving a get-well-soon card from the employees at Belfast’s Arcadia deli, Camilla noted that the king was sorry to miss the trip to Northern Ireland. “He’s doing very well,” she said, according to Hello! “He was very disappointed he couldn't come.”

She also found a moment to crack a joke when a shop assistant at the deli commented that men are not always willing patients. In response, Camilla said, “I try to keep him in order.”

Camilla traveled to Hillsborough Castle, the official government and royal residence in Northern Ireland on Wednesday evening, with a stop on the Isle of Man on the way. During an engagement conferring city status on the isle’s Borough of Douglas, she met a young child named Louis and commented on the familiar name. “I have a Louis grandson… quite a handful,” the queen said. (She actually has two grandsons that share the name: Louis Lopes, the 14-year-old son of Laura Lopes, and Prince William and Kate Middlenton’s five-year-old son Prince Louis.)

She spent Thursday on a series of engagements with Belfast’s local food producers, which included the deli, nearby Knott’s Bakery, and Coffey’s Butcher, a meat shop that has been open since 1929. During her visit, the queen met three generations of the Coffey family who own and operate the shop. 

She also took home a bag of the shop’s specialties that included vegetable rolls, beef sausages, and Belfast pickle."It's wonderful, it's all very tempting. It's lovely to see you thriving,” she said. “I shall take these back to my husband, he will really make the most of them.”

She finished her day back at Hillsborough Castle with a World Poetry Day reception hosted by her Queen’s Reading Room charity and book club. The event included readings by Derry Girls actor Ian McElhinney, contemporary poet Michael Longley, and television actress Frances Tomelty. During the event, Camilla also posed with First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, the two top leaders of Stormont, Northern Ireland’s devolved legislature.

Afterward, O’Neill posted pictures from the event onto her social media account. “A wonderful celebration of our diverse cultural heritage and rich local talent with performances in Irish, English, and Ulster Scots by some of our many great poets, authors, and actors,” she said. “Our diversity is one of our greatest assets, it is what makes us unique, what gives us strength, and what allows us to thrive as a society.”