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Britain's King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla paid a private visit to Bengaluru for wellness treatment at a sprawling integrative medical facility here, local sources said on Wednesday, with the Buckingham Palace confirming the couple made a city stopover enroute to the UK from Samoa after attending a Commonwealth meeting.
The royal couple stayed at the holistic health centre, known for rejuvenative treatment, including yoga and meditation sessions and therapies, near Whitefield here, an official said.
They made a short restful stopover in the country to break their long journey back to the UK from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, Buckingham Palace said in London on Wednesday.
The 75-year-old monarch made the private visit that the palace indicated was not health related or linked with his ongoing cancer treatment. It was reportedly factored in as part of appropriate periods of rest advised by his doctors as part of the overall long-distance royal tour that covered Australia and Samoa.
"Their Majesties had a short private stopover in India to help break the long journey back from Samoa. They return to the UK this morning (Wednesday)," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.
This was not the King's first visit to the 'SOUKYA', International Holistic Centre at Samethanahalli in Bengaluru. He celebrated his 71st birthday here in 2019. It is run by Dr Issac Mathai, who is among the few individuals from India invited to attend his coronation as the UK's King on May 6 last year.
"The couple underwent therapeutic yoga, enjoyed a strictly vegetarian diet with eggs. They underwent rejuvenative treatment, which also included meditation and therapies," an official at the facility said. "The King received wellness treatment, including Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Naturopathy."
It was like a typical day for them just like for any other guest who visits the facility.
"Their day began with morning therapeutic yoga which is taught by a specialised doctor knowing the medical condition or any health issue if any. This was usually a one-on-one session. After breakfast, then treatment started which was followed by lunch," he said.
Food was prepared from fresh organic produce from the farm at the campus and the evenings were more about meditation, he said. "That's how his days were here. This is done for every guest. The only difference is with each person's medical condition or their health issue, we fine tune it accordingly," the official told PTI.
During the three-day stay, they also took a tour of the organic farming and medicinal garden, visited a cow shed, engaged in eco-friendly practices and walked on the grasses -- felt connected to nature as the campus is home to butterflies, dragon files, frogs and wild rabbits.
The couple left the city this morning, the official said.
According to him, the King planted a Jacaranda sapling at a centrally located spot of the 30-acre campus during his visit.
Giving details about the treatment offered at the facility, the official said, "As per our holistic philosophy, we take care of the person as a whole with mind, body, spirit and integration of different systems of medicines that is very unique. It's an integration of Indian traditional practices like Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, therapeutic yoga, and acupuncture with western allopathy medicines as per their medical condition."
"We have a philosophy of holistic wholesomeness. King Charles has been involved with that since the last 30-40 years and he was the patron of the British Association for Holistic Medicine and Healthcare," he said.
"He (Charles) is the patron of the faculty of Homeopathy. So, he is actively involved in it and he believes in it. All these organic gardening and medical gardening, preservation, water harvesting system, solar panels, biogas plant all fascinate him," the official said.
Charles visited the organic farming area which has different varieties of fresh vegetables, coconut, and medicinal garden which has thousands of medicinal plants. "All vegetables, egg and coconut water he (King Charles) had, everything was from the farm," he said.
Charles has been a vocal supporter of Ayurveda over the years.
He joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his UK visit in April 2018 at the Science Museum in London for the launch of a new Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence, aimed at creating a first-of-its-kind global network for evidence-based research on yoga and Ayurveda.
The British monarch is set to resume his medical treatment cycle for an unspecified form of cancer on his return to the UK.
Over the weekend, a senior palace official told reporters at the conclusion of the royal tour of Australia and Samoa that the King is keen to get back into a regular programme and overseas travel after a successful tour.
The tour of Australia was the King's first major visit since the palace confirmed in February that he was being treated for cancer. Initially, the visit was to also cover New Zealand, which was dropped from the schedule on the advice of doctors. Following Australia, Charles attended CHOGM in the Pacific Island nation of Samoa as the head of the 56-member organisation, which concluded on Sunday.
The entire schedule, which involved the King and Queen undertaking up to 10 engagements a day, had been tailored specifically on medical advice to accommodate periods of rest and included only one evening event.