Since the Princess of Wales underwent abdominal surgery on January 16 and was barely seen in public afterwards, her health has been subject to speculation. In a recorded video message to the British people, just over two months after that procedure, Kate Middleton personally announces that she has been diagnosed with cancer and that she is in the early stages of a “preventative chemo treatment”.
“In January I had major abdominal surgery in London and at the time it was thought my condition was not cancer. The procedure was successful, but tests after the operation showed that cancer was still present,” Kate explains in the video. “My medical team therefore advised me to start preventive chemotherapy. I am now in the early phase of that treatment.”
“It was obviously a huge shock, and William and I did everything we could to process and deal with it privately for the sake of our young family,” Kate continues. “You can imagine that that took time. It took me time to recover from the major surgery before I could start my treatment. But most importantly, it also took us time to explain everything appropriately to George, Charlotte and Louis, and to reassure them that everything will be fine with me.”
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Source of comfort
The Princess of Wales also thanked everyone who was concerned about her in her video message. “I would like to personally thank you all for all your messages of support and understanding while I was recovering from my surgery. It’s been an incredibly tough few months for our whole family, but I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me. I am so grateful for that.”
“I am doing well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that help me heal, in my mind and body,” she reassures the British people. “Having William by my side is also a great source of comfort and reassurance. Just like the love, support and kindness that so many of you have shown. It means so much to both of us.”
Initially, the intention was that Princess Kate would return to work at Easter. In the video, however, she now asks for peace and respect for her privacy during her treatment. “My work has always brought me great joy. I look forward to returning as soon as I can. But now I have to focus on my full recovery.”
Wild theories
In recent weeks, wild theories have been circulating across the Channel about, among other things, plastic surgery, a drug or alcohol addiction and a break-up with Prince William. Every time Kensington Palace tried to restore calm, there seemed to be more commotion. Like early last week, when international news agencies withdrew a family portrait of the princess and her children because it had been photoshopped, something Kate later admitted.
With her message, Princess Kate takes control of communication surrounding her health back into her own hands. “All the speculation of the past few weeks now has a particularly bad aftertaste,” says Lieven Buysse, professor of British culture at KU Leuven. “At the same time, the British royal family has taken a very clumsy approach to communication by sending those edited photos out into the world. There was nothing believable about the whole story anymore. The only thing left to do is reveal the truth.”
At the beginning of February it was announced that British King Charles (75), Kate’s father-in-law, also has cancer. He said through a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace that he was “very proud of Catherine for her courage to speak as she did.”
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