LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, said Friday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Her condition was disclosed in a video message recorded on Wednesday and broadcast Friday, coming after weeks of speculation on social media about her whereabouts and health since she was hospitalized in January for unspecified abdominal surgery.
Kate asked for “time, space and privacy” while she is treated for an unspecified type of cancer, which was discovered after her surgery.
“I am well,” she said. “I am getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal.”
Kate, 42, hadn’t been seen publicly since Christmas until video surfaced this week of her with her husband, Prince William, heir to the throne, walking from a farm shop near their Windsor home.
Kensington Palace had given little detail about Kate’s condition beyond saying it wasn’t cancer-related, the surgery was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April. Kate said it had been thought that her condition was non-cancerous until tests revealed the diagnosis.
“This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” she said.
The news is another stunning development for the royal family since the announcement last month that King Charles III was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer that was caught while undergoing a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement that Kate “has shown tremendous bravery.” He added: “In recent weeks she has been subjected to intense scrutiny and has been unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media.”
Charles, 75, has withdrawn from public duties while he has cancer treatment, though he’s appeared frequently in photos carrying on meetings with government officials and dignitaries and was even seen going to church.
Kate, on the other hand, had been out of view, leading to weeks of speculation and gossip. Attempts to put rumors to bed by releasing a photo of her on Mother’s Day in the U.K. surrounded by her three smiling children backfired when The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted the image because it had been manipulated.
Kate issued a statement the next day acknowledging she liked to “experiment with editing” and apologizing for “any confusion” the photo had caused. But that did little to quell the speculation.
Even the footage published by The Sun and TMZ that appeared to show Kate and William shopping sparked a new flurry of rumor-mongering, with some armchair sleuths refusing to believe the video showed Kate at all.
Earlier this week, a British privacy watchdog said it was investigating a report that staff at the private London hospital where she was treated tried to snoop on her medical records while she was a patient for abdominal surgery.
The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.
The princess is the oldest of three children brought up in a well-to-do neighborhood in Berkshire, west of London. The Middletons have no aristocratic background, and the British press often referred to Kate as a “commoner” marrying into royalty.
Kate attended the private girls’ school Marlborough College and then University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she met William around 2001. Friends and housemates at first, their relationship came to be in the public eye when they were pictured together on a skiing holiday in Switzerland in 2004.
Kate graduated in 2005 with a degree in art history and a budding relationship with the prince.
LONDON (AP) — On Friday, Kate, the Princess of Wales, said she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer — an announcement that comes amid what hasn’t been a good year for Britain’s royals so far.
First came the “royal health shock” headlines when palace officials announced that King Charles III and Kate both had health troubles. An absence of information about Kate’s health and whereabouts then fueled an increasingly frenzied rumor mill that made its way from the fringes of social media to frontpages around the world.
Distrust of the monarchy only intensified after Kate admitted that she edited an official family photo, and palace officials have struggled to regain control of the narrative as conjecture and conspiracy theories persist.
Here is a timeline of recent events relating to the royal family:
Dec. 25, 2023: Kate attends Christmas service at Sandringham, the royal estate on the eastern English coast, alongside Prince William, their children and other members of the royal family. This is the princess’s last public appearance.
Jan. 16, 2024: Kate, 42, is admitted to the London Clinic and undergoes abdominal surgery. The news isn’t announced until the next day.
Jan. 17: Kensington Palace reveals that Kate is recovering from a planned operation. Officials say her condition isn’t cancer-related but did not specify what surgery it was, only saying it was successful. They say she will remain in the private hospital for 10-14 days and be away from public view until after Easter.
Buckingham Palace announces on the same day that King Charles will be treated for a benign enlarged prostate.
Jan. 21: Prince Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, says she has malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
Jan. 26: King Charles is admitted to a London hospital for a three-day stay for his prostate treatment.
Jan. 29: Kate and Charles are both discharged from the hospital. Charles is photographed leaving the hospital with Camilla and waving at well-wishers. Kate is not pictured leaving the hospital, but officials say she is “making good progress” and will continue her recovery at home.
Feb. 5: Buckingham Palace announces that Charles has cancer and will receive treatment. Officials did not say what form of cancer the king has.
Feb. 7: Prince Harry arrives in the U.K. from California to visit his father. He departs the next day.
Feb. 27: William pulls out of a memorial service for his godfather, the late King Constantine of Greece, at the last minute, due to a “personal matter.” The palace declined to elaborate but said Kate continues to do well.
Later on the same day, Buckingham Palace says Thomas Kingston, the son-in-law of Prince Michael of Kent, has died at the age of 45. Prince Michael is a cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
March 1: An inquest hears that Thomas Kingston died from a “traumatic head wound” on Feb. 25. A gun was found near his body at his parents’ home.
March 4: A photo reportedly showing Kate riding in a car with her mother Carole Middleton in Windsor circulates on social media. It is published by some international news outlets but not in any of Britain’s newspapers.
March 6: People magazine cites a royal spokesman as saying that William’s “focus is on his work and not on social media.”
March 10: Kensington Palace releases a photo of Kate surrounded by her three children to mark Mother’s Day in Britain. The photo, the first official one since the princess underwent surgery, was retracted hours later by The Associated Press and other news agencies over concerns it had been digitally manipulated.
March 11: Amid a new round of speculation about her health sparked by the edited family photo, Kate issues an apology on social media for the “confusion” caused. She says she “occasionally experiments with editing” like many amateur photographers.
March 16: The Sun newspaper publishes a video reportedly showing a smiling and relaxed Kate shopping with William at a farm shop near their Windsor home.
March 20: The Information Commissioner’s Office says it is investigating a report that at least one member of staff at the London Clinic tried to snoop on Kate’s medical records while she was a patient at the hospital.
March 22: In a video address, Kate announces she is undergoing treatment for cancer, including preventive chemotherapy. She says she is well and getting stronger every day, but needs to focus on her recovery.
