• READ MORE: 'I was just longing to let it out, but obviously I couldn't': Queen Camilla reveals emotional visit to cancer centre
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The Queen looked just as relieved to bask in the rain and cooler temperatures as the rest of the UK while holding an umbrella this afternoon.

Camilla, 79, beamed as she shielded herself from the slight drizzle on the first day of the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse, sporting a trench coat on top of an all-blue ensemble.

King Charles's wife - Patron of York Racecourse - was also equally ready for sunshine, looking effortlessly elegant in a stylish matching hat with a feather.

She was all smiles as she chatted to staff and other racegoers, including the Countess of Halifax.

York’s Ebor Festival is one of the biggest highlights in the British racing calendar, touted for its wonderful racecourse and the undisputed main event is the Juddmonte International.

It kicked off today and will wrap up on Saturday. Visitors are encouraged to 'join the buzz of a big race day with your friends.'

'Since 1843, our oldest and most famous race, the Ebor, has generated much excitement and many tales,' York racecourse said.

'The richest flat handicap in Europe, be here to savour the race and the buzz it creates.'

It comes as Her Majesty has for the first time spoken about learning of her husband's cancer diagnosis - and having to brave the public.

The Queen looked just as relieved to bask in the rain and cooler temperatures as the rest of the UK while holding an umbrella this afternoon

She was all smiles as she chatted to staff and other racegoers, including the Countess of Halifax

When Camilla opened the new Maggie's Royal Free cancer support centre in London in January 2024, few knew or understood her private anguish.

Just five days before, surgeons had told the King and Queen they had found cancer during a routine surgery on Charles.

It was news that she kept to herself even while speaking to other patients and families coming to terms with their own life-changing situations.

Now, she has revealed her emotions during that very public, but also deeply personal, official engagement to mark the charity's 30th anniversary and to publicise its vital work in supporting all those affected by cancer.

And she says that while she has always been a huge supporter of Maggie's mission to support patients and their families during and after cancer, she admits she approached the engagement with very different feelings now the disease had 'come home to roost' with 'my poor husband', even though she had been sworn to secrecy about his condition.

Buckingham Palace announced the King's diagnosis five days after the visit.

'I remember coming to see a Maggie's just after The King being diagnosed. Nobody could say anything at the time. That was quite difficult,' Camilla says.

York’s Ebor Festival is one of the biggest highlights in the British racing calendar, touted for its wonderful racecourse and the undisputed main event is the Juddmonte International. Camilla pictured with the Countess of Halifax

It kicked off today and will wrap up on Saturday. Visitors are encouraged to 'j oin the buzz of a big race day with your friends'

King Charles's wife - Patron of York Racecourse - was also equally ready for sunshine, looking effortlessly elegant in a stylish matching hat with a feather

Camilla beamed as she shielded herself from the slight drizzle on the first day of the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse, sporting a trench coat on top of an all-blue ensemble

'I almost said something but, you know, I felt that it wasn't the time to say. [I] looked at everybody who was suffering and all the relations and I think it made me realise even more how important these places were.

'I was just longing to let it out, but obviously I couldn't.'

Speaking in the seven-minute film, which incorporates a moving conversation filmed at Clarence House with the charity's chief executive, Dame Laura Lee, Queen Camilla describes how while she had always listened and engaged with patients and their families on her many visits to Maggie's centres around the country, it was hard to come to terms with the fact she was now also there as one of them.

'I was almost questioning them,' she admits of the others there. 'I didn't, you know, I didn't want to pry too deeply… I was just talking to them, but… I felt it was much more deep.'

It has also made her even more determined to ensure that 'every single hospital must have a Maggie's'. I don't know where we would be without these centres… a place where it is ok not to pretend to be fine,' she says.

The charity says since the King's diagnosis and his decision to speak publicly about his experiences, they had seen a 12 per cent upswing in men seeking support.

'If you literally take the cork out of the bottle and talk about it,' the Queen remarks.

Told that the King's approach to fighting cancer had been an inspiration to many, the Queen said proudly: 'Look at my husband. Nothing stopped him. He just said, "This is my way, I'm going to cope with it."

'It had never really come back to roost at home and suddenly your husband is diagnosed and you think, "Goodness, I've been talking to all these people and now I'm the one… who has got to help to look after my poor husband and try to understand it all."'

The low-key visit took place on January 31, 2024, just a few days after the King and Queen had been given the unimaginably worrying news by doctors that surgeons had found cancer present during routine surgery at The London Hospital for a benign enlarged prostate.

Buckingham Palace has never revealed what kind of cancer it is, but has confirmed it was not prostate or related to his surgery. The King has always hoped that by doing this, his message of positivity about living with cancer would reach the widest possible audience.

He embarked on a long, and at times deeply gruelling, process of undisclosed treatment, which continues in part today.

However, last December officials announced that His Majesty has responded 'exceptionally well' to treatment and that it would now move into a 'precautionary phase'. Charles described the milestone as a 'great personal blessing'.

His condition continues to be monitored and reviewed to 'protect and prioritise his continued recovery'.