After weeks of wild speculation, British people yesterday digested the shock news that Catherine, Princess of Wales, has cancer, with many praising her courage while others criticised the conspiracies that spread over her absence.
Catherine revealed the news in a highly personal video released Friday, just weeks after King Charles III said he too is battling cancer. The candid disclosure leaves the British monarchy in crisis with two of its most senior members simultaneously fighting serious illness.
Charles — 17 months into his reign when Buckingham Palace announced in February that he would be cancelling all public engagements — led tributes to his “beloved daughter-in-law”. The ailing 75-year-old monarch spoke of his pride in “her courage in speaking as she did”.
Following other warm words from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the White House, British newspapers hailed the courage of the 42-year-old wife of Prince William, heir to the throne. “Kate, you are not alone” read the front of The Sun.
The tabloid said it was “hugely comforting” to hear Kate say she was getting stronger, and that “perhaps the world will now appreciate why so much secrecy surrounded her surgery in January”. Others hoped it would end the frenzied rumours. The Daily Mail tabloid took aim at the “social media trolls who have been peddling disgusting conspiracy theories to explain her absence from public life.”
The public also condemned media coverage of the princess however. Stood outside Kensington Palace in London, Nathaniel Taylor, a 24-year-old government worker, said: “I think it’s really damning what happened to them, what the media has done, how they’ve reacted over these past couple of months.
“I think some speculation is inevitable but the lengths people were going to try and make things up it’s just (too much). Hopefully people take a look in the mirror.”
At Tower Bridge, Sofia, a 19-year-old student who did not give her family name, said she had seen “weird accusations” about the absence and that the true reason was “sad”. “Obviously it was a much (more) serious matter”, she said. In her statement Kate, as the princess is widely known, admitted the diagnosis was a “huge shock” and asked for “time, space and privacy” as she completes chemotherapy. In the video — recorded Wednesday in Windsor, west of London, where the future queen and king live with their three young children — she insisted she was “well”.
She said it had taken them time to explain the situation to Prince George, aged 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis, “and to reassure them that I am going to be OK”. “William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” Kate added.
Commentators commended its frank nature, with the princess speaking directly to the camera while sitting on a garden bench. “So many people will have been so moved by the way that she conducted herself during that two minute plus broadcast,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP. “But there’s no doubt at all that it’s a very, very difficult time for the institution of monarchy,” he added.
Buckingham Palace announced on February 5 that tests had identified Charles had “a form of cancer” without giving further details. He has cancelled all public engagements except audiences with the prime minister and ambassadors, and worked on official papers while receiving treatment.
He has been photographed several times since then, and seen attending church. Kate was last seen at a public engagement on December 25.
Kensington Palace announced on January 17 that she faced up to two weeks in hospital and several months’ recuperation following abdominal surgery. She was not expected to be ready to return to public duties until after Easter on March 31, a statement at the time said. But Kate disclosed tests after the operation “found cancer had been present” and that she was now undergoing “preventative chemotherapy”. Kensington Palace said she would return to official duties “when she is cleared to do so by her medical team”. “Preventive chemotherapy after surgery is given to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back in the future,” Andrew Beggs, a senior clinical fellow and consultant colorectal surgeon at the University of Birmingham, said.
He added it was “a bit like mopping a floor with bleach when you’ve spilt something on it,” noting chemotherapy “kills any spilt cells”.

Charles, Catherine’s diagnoses: key dates
January 17: Kensington Palace announces that Catherine, the 42-year-old wife of heir to the throne Prince William, is facing up to two weeks in hospital after undergoing successful abdominal surgery. The palace says the issue is not cancer-related, but she faces several months’ recuperation from the operation. Less than 90 minutes later, Buckingham Palace says that British head of state Charles, 75, will attend hospital the following week for a corrective procedure to treat a benign enlarged prostate.

January 26: Charles has surgery at The London Clinic, the same private clinic where Kate, as she is widely known, is also recovering from her operation. British media reports quote unnamed sources as saying the king was “doing well” after the treatment, and that he had visited Kate before his surgery.

January 29: The monarch, dressed in a suit and a black overcoat, waves to crowds as he is discharged from the clinic in central London and gets into a waiting car. Hours earlier, Kensington Palace had announced that Catherine had also returned home, without specifying exactly when she had left the facility.

February 5: Buckingham Palace announces that Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer and has begun treatment. The palace says the cancer was detected during his recent hospital procedure. It does not specify the type of cancer. The king takes an indefinite break from public duties.

February 6: The king’s estranged son Prince Harry jets in from California for a brief visit with his father. Charles is seen for the first time in public since his diagnosis when he is photographed smiling and waving from a car.

February 10: Charles expresses his “heartfelt thanks” to well-wishers in a statement.

February 27: William pulls out of attending a memorial service for his late godfather, King Constantine II of Greece, citing a “personal matter”. Kensington Palace declines to elaborate but says Catherine continues to be “doing well”. British media later report that this is likely the day Catherine found out about her cancer.

March 10: Kensington Palace releases the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months beforehand. It shows her posing with her three children. But it sparks a storm after major news agencies including AFP withdraw the photo saying it had been manipulated. Catherine apologises the next day for making alterations to the Mother’s Day image.

March 22: In an emotional video message, Kate says she has cancer and has begun chemotherapy. She says she is “well and getting stronger every day” but asks for “time, space and privacy” as she completes her treatment. — AFP

Harry Meghan ‘wish health and healing to Kate and family’
Estranged British royal Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan said they wished “health and healing” to Catherine, Princess of Wales, after she revealed she has cancer. The statement came after Catherine — known widely as Kate — announced Friday that she has cancer and is in the early stages of chemotherapy.
“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace,” said the California-based couple. The news of Kate’s diagnosis comes at a tumultuous time for relations inside Britain’s royal family.
Harry and Meghan, known formally as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are no longer working royals, having stepped back from duties amid recriminations over the way they say they were treated.
They moved to California in 2020, where they live in an exclusive enclave outside Santa Barbara, and are now forging their own businesses, after being cut off from the royal purse. Harry, who married former actress Meghan in a fairytale wedding in 2018, was at one time very close to his brother William, but relations have soured in recent years. The brothers have reportedly not spoken in months after Harry’s high-profile public criticism of his family.