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Did Nostradamus predict King Charles’ cancer?

His 500 year old prophecy sounds eerily similar to what's happening right now.

Water fountain with a bust of Michel de Nostradame or Nostradamus in the Old Town of his hometown and birthplace of Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France/Charles III leaves The London Clinic after undergoing a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate on January 29, 2024 in London, England.
Photos via Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Following the shocking announcement regarding King Charles’s cancer diagnosis there have been plenty of questions and speculation about what happens next. Will Charles step away from the throne? What type of cancer does the King have? Who would take his place if he were to step down? Amid all these questions, there’s the surprising realization that the events happening right now are eerily similar to a prediction made hundreds of years ago by the psychic Nostradamus.

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That’s right, the same man who predicted Hitler’s rise to power and 9/11 also made some claims regarding the current King of the UK and it looks like he might be right yet again. For those who don’t know, Nostradamus was a French astrologer and reputable seer from the 1500s who wrote hundreds of poetic quatrains that apparently predict the future.

What did Nostradamus say?

King Charles' official portrait
via The British Royal Family

Whilst he didn’t specifically make any statements about Charles having cancer, he did say that in the 2020s, the “King of the islands” would abdicate the throne because the people “disapproved of his divorce.” The full quote reads as such:

Because they disapproved of his divorce

A man who later they considered unworthy

The People will force out the King of the islands

A Man will replace who never expected to be king

Nostradamus – Les Prophéties

Classic Nostradamus, giving us something that’s pretty vague, but also just specific enough to be applicable to current events. Charles’s divorce to Princess Diana certainly made him a villain for a time in the eye of the British public. However, it’s pretty safe to say he won’t be abandoning his throne because of the backlash to a divorce that happened 30 years ago. But could he abdicate now due to his recent diagnosis? Only time will tell. 

Also, what’s that last line about? Some have speculated that this could be referring to Prince Harry becoming King. That’s incredibly unlikely considering Prince William is next in line to the throne and there isn’t a reason (that we know of) why he wouldn’t want to become King after Charles. Also Harry’s ties to the royal family are pretty frayed.

How does Nostradamus seemingly predict the future?

Of course 'The Simpsons' predicted Donald Trump running for presidency in 2024
Image: 20th Century

Whilst what Nostradamus has said seems alarmingly close to what’s happening today, it’s worth pointing out there’s plenty that’s just plain wrong. We’ve already mentioned the whole thing about Charles abandoning the throne because of the divorce is sort of bogus. In fact, the only thing in his quatrain that is accurate so far is the first line. We tend to just focus on the bits that fit whilst ignoring the rest. 

The thing is a lot of Nostradamus’s predictions are purposefully vague and usually refer to events that have typically occurred throughout history. It’s the same with The Simpsons; it’s a mixture of guesswork, vagueness, coincidence and a knowledge of history. Kings have abdicated their thrones before and they’ve had messy divorces before, in fact Henry VIII (notorious for divorcing and beheading his wives) died the same year Nostradamus started writing his predictions down. Predicting something similar would happen again in the future is not a massive stretch.

It seems that people are kind of trying to make Nostradamus’s predictions fit in hindsight rather than taking his words for what they are, and what they are are statements that vaguely resemble current events. I’m willing to bet Charles doesn’t abdicate and that Nostradamus is wrong; if I’m right I’ll quit my job and become a seer for the rest of my life.