While Prince William has had more than his fair share of challenges over the years, he now faces his biggest one yet – with his father Charles and wife Kate both being treated for cancer
As his wife Kate and father King Charles both undergo cancer treatment, Prince William is facing one of the most difficult chapters of his life.
Over the course of his 41 years, Prince William has endured and survived many heartbreaking challenges, from witnessing the acrimonious breakdown of his parents’ marriage, to losing his mother when he was only 15 years old. In more recent years, William has dealt with the loss of his beloved grandparents, the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and a rupture in his once-close relationship with his younger brother Prince Harry.
But now, he faces his biggest challenge yet both in terms of his private life and the monarchy after his father and wife Kate were both diagnosed with cancer within weeks of each other.
While the public have only just learned about the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis, William has, of course, had some time to come to terms with it privately, while bravely putting his best foot forward in public. After Kate’s operation, he initially took three weeks away from royal duties to focus on caring for his family, with a source telling the Sunday Times, “These are people with three small children going through the hardest time they’ve had to go through as a family… They are trying to keep things as normal as possible for the kids, but it’s not easy.”
But when Charles announced his own cancer diagnosis on February 6 and retreated from “public-facing duties” to undergo treatment, William quickly had to step up and lead the Royal Family at the annual Commonwealth Day Service – alongside his stepmother Queen Camilla. Royal expert Jennie Bond says the pair have been leaning on each other for support as their spouses go through health difficulties.
She told OK! magazine: “Recent events have obviously brought William and Camilla much closer. They have been left, almost literally, nursing the Crown while the King and the Princess recover. Their teams will be working more closely to coordinate diaries and cover the engagements that has been planned, and Camilla and William are bound to have been in much closer regular contact.”
Despite his family turmoil, William has stayed committed to his passion projects, recently celebrating Launchpad as part of his Earthshot Prize – a kind of matchmaking platform which joins up investors with winners of the award to help scale up their impressive solutions to the climate crisis. This week also saw William attend an engagement in Sheffield as part of his Homewards project – which is working to end homelessness.
However, royal expert Rebecca English noted that the Prince seemed to have “the weight of the world on his shoulders”. She added: “I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what it was, but there was a slight sadness around the eyes and, noticeably, a loss of weight.”
“How remarkable that he has even been able to do half of what he has undertaken publicly in recent months – even carrying out investitures for his cancer-stricken father – given everything that has been going on behind the scenes,” she added.
Sources say William will return to work once the children go back to school after the Easter holidays, and a Kensington Palace spokesperson confirmed: ‘The Prince will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his official duties as he has done since the start of the year.”
Meanwhile, his rift with Prince Harry shows no signs of healing amid reports his little brother had ‘no idea’ about his sister-in-law’s illness. A source told the New York Post: “They had no idea, and only learned of the news around the same time the rest of the world found out.” Chris Ship, royal editor for ITV, has claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have since “reached out” to Kate and William.
Kate shared her heartbreaking news in an emotional video message filmed by the BBC, and said she had started a course of preventative chemotherapy.
“This of course came as a huge shock,” said the Princess of Wales about her diagnosis, “and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.
“As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte, and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be okay.”
The timing of the video message also coincided with the three Wales children breaking up for their school holidays, which sources said led the Prince and Princess of Wales to feel that “it was right for them as a family” to announce the difficult news.
At the time of Diana’s death in 1997, the late Queen Elizabeth was initially criticised for retreating into the privacy of Balmoral in an attempt to shield her two grandsons, William and Harry, from scrutiny as they dealt with the shock of their loss.
Despite the criticism the late monarch received, in 2017, the Prince of Wales told of how grateful he was for the time she had bought them away from the spotlight, where the brothers had “the privacy to mourn, to collect our thoughts, and to just have that space away from everybody”.
Kate has now appealed for time and space going forward as she continues her cancer treatment in her message to the public, saying: “We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be “enormously touched” and “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support following Kate’s cancer announcement.
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said on Saturday: “The prince and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message.
“They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”
These sentiments were quickly echoed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who sent a message of support: “We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”
The King also made an affectionate statement supporting his “beloved daughter-in-law”, with a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace saying that Charles is “so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did” and remains in the “closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law”.
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