King amused by well-wisher’s card showing disgruntled cone-wearing dog

The King was left tickled pink by a well-wisher’s card showing a disgruntled dog recovering from medical treatment and telling him “at least you don’t have to wear a cone!”.

Charles has been pictured looking through some of the 7,000 messages of support Buckingham Palace’s correspondence team has received from around the world since his cancer diagnosis.

Many share their own experiences of cancer or offer their good wishes and advice for a speedy recovery, with one adult well-wisher telling the King: “Chin up, chest out, remain positive and don’t let it get you down.

“Trust me, it works, but the main thing is family.”

While a child sent the message: “Never give up. Be brave. Don’t push your limits. Get Well Soon.”

Sitting at a desk in a room in Buckingham Palace’s Belgian Suite, Charles laughed when he came across the card, from an adult well-wisher, illustrated with a picture of the terrier-like dog wearing a collar and feeling sorry for itself.

The restrictive collar which stops animals aggravating a wound or stitches after an operation is sometimes called the “cone of shame” by pet owners, or an “Elizabethan” or “E-collar” in reference to the large collars known as ruffs worn by Elizabethans.

One card, like many sent to the King, was hand-drawn, with the words “get well soon” written beneath a picture of a crown, complete with rubies and emeralds, and with a rainbow on the back.

Where the public have included an address they will receive a response of thanks for their cards or letters.

Charles looked at the messages, sent in his daily red box of paperwork, on Wednesday and during that day carried out his first face-to-face official duties – an audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and a Privy Council meeting – since his condition was made public.

Footage was released of the King meeting Mr Sunak and he said he had been reduced to tears by the messages and cards of support he had received.

The Prime Minister told him the “country is behind you”.

Since the diagnosis Charles has postponed all public-facing duties, but is continuing with behind-the-scenes work on his red boxes of state papers.

The royal family’s official social media channels posted a short film to accompany the photographs, showing post from well-wishers being delivered and later sorted by staff and the King looking through the messages.

One read: “I wanted to tell you I am thinking of you as you face your own diagnosis and treatment and send prayers and every good wish for a speedy recovery.”

Another said: “King Charles, sorry to hear you are not feeling well at the moment. I am wishing you a speedy recovery. Get Well Soon!”