Your support helps us to tell the story
The Princess of Wales has appeared in a deeply personal video with her family to confirm she will return to public duties following the completion of her chemotherapy treatment.
Kate’s heartfelt message about her cancer journey is spoken over images showing the Waleses and their children enjoying the outdoors, walking through woods and the couple shown cuddling as they hold hands.
She describes the past nine months since her serious health issues began as “incredibly tough for us as a family” and how the “cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone”, with the experience giving her a “new perspective on everything.”
In the video, Kate says: “Doing what I can to stay cancer-free is now my focus. Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.
“I am however looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.
“Despite all that has gone before, I enter this new phase of recovery with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life.”
It ended with the princess’s words of reassurance for others who are still being treated for cancer: “To all those who are continuing their own cancer journey – I remain with you, side by side, hand in hand.
“Out of darkness, can come light, so let that light shine bright.”
The princess has been undergoing preventative chemotherapy after having been diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer earlier this year.
She has stayed largely out of the public eye since her diagnosis, having only been seen at official engagements twice since January. The mother of three attended Trooping the Colour in June and presented the Wimbledon men’s trophy in July and it is now understood she will return to work this autumn.
Kate, who is continuing to work from home, is hoping to return to a light programme of public duties for the remainder of the year, reflecting her need to make a full recovery, and aims for a handful of engagements in the coming months.
She is also working towards appearing with the royal family at the annual Remembrance Sunday service staged at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
The princess’s Christmas Carol concert at Westminster Abbey has become a firm fixture in the royal calendar in recent years and she has begun working with her team on the project.
In an update ahead of Trooping the Colour, she said in a written message that she was making good progress but was “not out of the woods yet” and had “good days and bad days” as she continued her treatment.
Friends of the princess told The Times that the uncertainty of her good days and bad days “still rings true”.
She has had a slower return to royal duties than that of her father-in-law, the King, who was also diagnosed with cancer this year.
Charles, 75, returned to work in April with a full schedule as he continues his treatment.
