How long will King Charles be staying at Sandringham?

The monarch flew to his country retreat with Queen Camilla on Tuesday, after Buckingham Palace revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing a course of treatment.

Officials have not so far revealed how long he will be recuperating in Norfolk. 

The King and Queen leave Clarence House in London following the announcement of Charles’s cancer diagnosis (Image: James Manning/PA)

READ MORE: King Charles stops public-facing engagements after cancer diagnosis

READ MORE: 'Perfect place to recuperate' - well-wishers' support for King at Sandringham

Sandringham House is usually open to the public after Easter when members of the Royal Family are not in residence (Image: Ian Burt)

Parts of the Grade II listed mansion are usually open to the public for much of the summer season, when members of the Royal family are not in residence. 

In 2023, the house re-opened to visitors at Easter. But while the holiday weekend falls at the end of March this year, the Sandringham Estate has not yet confirmed when it will be open, with its website stating the house and its gardens "are now closed until 2024".

The picturesque Double Lodges on one of the entrances to the grounds of Sandringham House (Image: Chris Bishop)

Tucked away in its wooded grounds, the house can not be seen from the public roads running through the estate, giving the King privacy while he recovers.

like his father, the late Prince Philip, he is said to enjoy taking his breakfast and afternoon tea in the ground floor dining room whose windows overlook the west lawn and part of the newly-installed topiary garden, which is among the changes the King has made on the 20,000-acre estate he inherited from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The King was seen walking to church at Sandringham with Queen Camilla on Sunday (Image: Joe Giddens/PA)

Views of the estate have inspired one of His Majesty's passions, with the monarch painting watercolours of the house and surrounding estate.

Another reason for choosing his Norfolk estate instead of Highgrove, in Gloucestershire or Balmoral in Scotland may well be the number of projects he is overseeing, ranging from planting trees and hedgerows to conserving rare birds, while rare breed cattle are expected to be introduced shortly.

A view across open pasture on the Sandringham Estate (Image: Ian Burt)

Workers have been laying a new hedgerow close to the Norwich Gates, the main formal entrance to the estate.