Healing spot

Charles and Camilla’s holistic connect with a wellness centre in Bengaluru

- PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

ON THE OUTSKIRTS of Bengaluru, Queen Consort Camilla and King Charles III found a haven. SOUKYA, a holistic health centre, has been their favourite getaway from the palace’s heavy security and public scrutiny in the UK. So much so that Camilla has made quiet visits to the wellness centre, not once but eight times, in the last decade. Her last visit was in October 2022. Charles had accompanied her in November 2019.

The royal couple’s frequent visits reiterate their patronage of and belief in integrative, holistic medicine, says Dr Issac Mathai, who cofounded SOUKYA with his wife Suja in 2011. Mathai has been a holistic physician to Charles for more than a decade and is one of the very few to be invited for the coronation.

“Ms Camilla is a humble person,” says Mathai, adding that she prefers to carry her bags and be treated like any other patient. “When I met her in London after the Queen’s funeral, she told me she wanted to visit SOUKYA as it had been planned much earlier. She told me the visit was very important for her. The palace officials told me that the royal couple get privacy at SOUKYA, which they cannot get in the palace with a fleet of security and staff. Camilla is down to earth and genuinely feels for people. Over the last 10 years, she has grown closer to the people of [Britain]; [that] is what I [have] learnt from friends in London. Her family members are ordinary people.”