For years it has been one King Charles’s favourite sanctuaries for rejuvenation. And as he made the lengthy journey back from his tour of Australia and Samoa this week, it seems the king could not resist a quick spa break at his favourite Indian wellness retreat.
In a visit that remained a closely guarded secret, Charles and Queen Camilla arrived quietly in India last Saturday and drove to Soukya international holistic health centre, a wellness resort on the outskirts of the southern city of Bengaluru. The centre is a favourite of the royal couple, who have visited multiple times, and is where Charles spent his 71st birthday, but this was the royal’s first visit to India since becoming king.
Set in a luscious 30-acre organic farm filled with vegetables, fruits and traditional medicinal herbs, Soukya – which derives from the Sanskrit word for harmony – describes itself as a place to restore the “body’s natural balance of mind, body and spirit”.
Its programmes involve a combination of yoga, homeopathic practices and traditional Indian medicine known as Ayurveda, which is drawn from ancient texts. Other famous guests have included the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the actor Emma Thompson.
The entire resort was closed for the three days of Charles and Camilla’s visit, with no outsiders allowed in. The couple were put up in the £1,000-a-night presidential suite, which has three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and an outdoor shower surrounded by banana palms and flowers.
Sources told local media the centre’s programme was adapted for Charles, who has been undergoing treatment for cancer. “This time, because of chemotherapy for his cancer, the sessions he underwent were for rejuvenation, detoxification and strengthening the immune system,” sources told the Hindu newspaper.
The royal couple’s routine is reported to have begun with a morning yoga session, with Camilla said to be a yoga devotee. This was followed by a typical vegetarian south Indian breakfast, of items such as dosas and idlis, as well as fresh juices and coconut water. They then had morning and afternoon rejuvenation therapies, including healing massages, and finished with an evening meditation session, before going to bed by 9pm.
According to local media, Charles and Camilla were seen to be enjoying the serenity of Soukya’s surroundings, reportedly taking long walks around the farm and the cow sheds. Before leaving on Wednesday, Charles planted a Jacaranda tree sapling on the health centre’s grounds.
Charles and Camilla’s relationship to Soukya goes back years. The centre was founded by Issac Mathai, a Kerala doctor of holistic medicine, who first met Charles at a conference in London in 2002. The pair struck up a friendship over a shared interest in natural and holistic therapies, and in 2010 Camilla made her first visit to the Indian resort.
Both she and Charles have visited Soukya several times since then. Mathai has become a personal holistic physician and close friend of the king’s, travelling to the UK regularly to offer him treatments there.
Mathai was invited to the coronation ceremony and has had tea with Charles and Camilla at Windsor castle. The royal couple are so fond of the organic mangoes grown on Soukya’s farm, they get a box delivered to Buckingham Palace every year.
