Joy Behar Criticizes Late Queen Elizabeth After King Charles III's Cancer Diagnosis: 'Poor Guy...'

Joy Behar, co-host of The View, didn't hold back her criticism of the late Queen Elizabeth II's prolonged reign, implying that the royal's extended tenure may have deprived her son, King Charles III, of his rightful opportunity to ascend the throne earlier. "Poor Charles," Behar lamented during Tuesday's episode, reflecting on the news of King Charles's recent cancer diagnosis. She emphasized the lengthy wait Charles endured before assuming the role of monarch, suggesting that Queen Elizabeth's unprecedented 70-year reign could have benefited from term limits.

“I mean, [Queen Elizabeth] was in the position for 70 years, you know, and the longest reign. I think that she could have used some term limits,” Behar went on. “It’s like, why not step down and let Charles have his day in the sun? The poor guy, he finally gets to be king, and now he has an illness. That doesn’t seem fair. There’s something wrong about it," she added.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022 at the age of 96, Charles, 75, was crowned in May 2023. Behar, 81, and her fellow The View co-hosts talked about his reign and how Prince Harry hurried to his father's side after Buckingham Palace made his medical condition public on Monday.

A representative said in a statement, "A separate issue of concern was noted during The King's recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement... Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer.” Charles's cancer type was not disclosed by officials, but they did say that he will have regular treatments and will temporarily suspend his public activities.

Harry left Los Angeles for Heathrow Airport in London shortly after the news, leaving his two kids and wife, Meghan Markle. The 39-year-old Duke of Sussex paid his father a 'quick visit" at Clarence House on Monday, according to information provided to Page Six. Before his arrival in the UK, sources had already mentioned that Harry had communicated with his father upon learning of the diagnosis. When Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, stepped out for the first time since the announcement on Tuesday morning, they looked happy. As they made their way to Buckingham Palace, the monarchs were seen waving to cheering spectators.

According to the New York Times, Charles has been a symbol of both continuity and change during his brief reign. He has lived his life much as he could for decades while also taking on a more active political role than his mother ever did. Charles gave a speech at the United Nations climate summit opening ceremony in Dubai in December. He enumerated a long list of climate-related natural disasters that had hit the world in the previous year, including wildfires in Canada, floods in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, cyclones in the Pacific, and a drought in East Africa. He declared, “We are taking the natural world outside balanced norms and limits, and into dangerous uncharted territory.”