Why did King Charles, Queen Camilla secretly visit Bengaluru?

King Charles III and Queen Camilla quietly visited a luxury wellness retreat in Bengaluru earlier this month, their first trip to India since King Charles ascended the throne.
Sources said the monarch and his wife arrived on October 27, to spend four days at Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC), located on the outskirts of Bengaluru. According to a report in The Indian Express, King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived on October 27, directly from Samoa, where they had attended the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The report stated that the king and his queen would leave on Wednesday, October 30, at the end of their wellness treatment. As it was a private visit, they didn’t make any public interaction during their stay in Bengaluru.
This was Charles’s first international trip after being reportedly diagnosed with cancer, underscoring his preference for integrative and eastern medicine approaches.
According to sources, the couple’s day used to begin with a yoga session in the morning, followed by breakfast and then rejuvenation treatment before lunch. After a rest period, another round of therapies used to follow, which would end with a meditation session. After that it would be dinner and then lights out at 9 pm.
Although this is his first visit as a monarch, King Charles has visited the facility nine times in the past decade. During three of those visits, the monarch celebrated Deepavali at the healthcare centre.
In 2019, during one of their visits, the couple celebrated the then Prince Charles’s 71st birthday at SIHHC.
SIHHC is touted as the world’s first integrative health destination, with many celebrities, including dancer Mallika Sarabhai, Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Emma Thompson, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and royal families from the Middle East and Europe.
Founded by Dr Issac Mathai and his wife in 2011, Soukya offers a set. Dr. Mathai, who has served as Charles’s holistic physician for years and attended his coronation, oversees the retreat, where guests can stay in one of 25 rooms with access to facilities like a yoga hall, library, and swimming pool.
Known for its integrative approach combining ayurveda, homoeopathy, naturopathy, and yoga, SIHHC provides personalised wellness programs aimed at managing stress, detoxification, and restoring health balance.
Additional treatments offered include acupuncture, reflexology, and various massages, with some programs involving detox treatments like Panchakarma, a therapy aimed at balancing bodily doshas.