The Princess of Wales opened up about her devastating cancer diagnosis just weeks after King Charles’ alarming health announcement – and we asked Mirror readers what they thought
It’s been nearly one week since the Princess of Wales bravely announced her cancer diagnosis in an emotional video – and we asked Mirror readers what they thought of the news.
Kate Middleton, 42, revealed that she is in the “early stages” of preventative chemotherapy for the devastating disease, which was detected after her major abdominal surgery in January. The alarming news came as a “huge shock” for the future Queen, as her condition was believed to be non-cancerous.
In a recorded message to the public, Kate spoke of “an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family”, but reassured that she is “well and getting stronger every day”, adding that she is “going to be ok”. It is currently unknown which type of cancer the princess has, but Kensington Palace has said: “We will not be sharing any further private medical information. The Princess has a right to medical privacy, as we all do.”
According to reports, Kate wanted time and space to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis, before sharing the news to the world. In the days leading up to the alarming announcement, dozens of conspiracy theories had been shared online, with people across the globe speculating over the royal’s whereabouts.
These were further fuelled when Kensington Palace released an edited Mother’s Day photograph of Kate and when she was spotted with William at a farm shop. A friend of Kate said the princess wanted to “protect her relationship” with the public and wrote the speech in a bid to “quell further gossip and health speculation”.
The update arrived just weeks after her father-in-law King Charles went public with his own cancer diagnosis, meaning two senior royals will be temporarily stepping back from duties. The Firm have previously kept details of their health as private as possible, but medical announcements have marked a new era of openness for the royals.
Amid the frenzied reaction to Kate’s announcement, some commentators questioned whether the royal had felt under pressure to release details about her health. We asked Mirror readers if they think the public has the right to know about the royal family’s health, and a whopping 82 percent said ‘No’. Around 8,636 people took part in our poll, and a hefty 7,105 said the Firm’s personal health matters should remain private.
Voicing their thoughts in the comments section, one user penned: “I think they are entitled to their own health privacy. Do tell me, now everyone over the whole world knows about Princess of Wales health, what use is it to everyone? For her to have to tell everyone which is without a doubt a private matter, that to me is very sad. Wishing her all the best in her full recovery.”
Another echoed: “The working Royals routinely give up a lot of privacy when they willingly go out into the public on their good days and bad to carry out public engagements in their work to encourage and acknowledge community effort and coherence, and represent the country as top diplomats. They should be allowed the rights of any other human to keep their deepest health worries to themselves – and simply disclose what they are comfortable sharing.”
A third shared: “No the public do not have any right whatsoever to know the personal health details of the Royal Family. It’s a massive invasion of their privacy. Would you want the whole world discussing your cancer? Having cancer is very stressful, exhausting and absolutely emotional. Please give them some privacy with their young family.”
Meanwhile, 15 percent of voters said the public does have the right to be informed about the royal family’s health because they are “public figures”.
Taking to the comments, one person posted: “I do feel that had The Palace been a bit more open to begin with then all the speculation about her health problems may have been less. The Royals mean a lot to many UK Citizens and matters regarding them are in the Public Domain. King Charles was open from the beginning about cancer being discovered after his Prostate operation and his subsequent undergoing treatment for it.
“Perhaps if Princess Kate’s advisors had done likewise then the guessing game may not have occurred as to why her convalescence and withdrawal from Royal Duties is so long. I do wish both her and the King a speedy relief from all their sufferings.”
A second added: “To some degree, yes. They are public figures, spindoctor and exist because of the public. We don’t need to know every detail. But the human mind will fill in gaps of information as we’ve seen and they could have avoided that if they’d given a little more information in a timely fashion.”
Only three percent of voters selected the option ‘Other’ in our poll, as one conflicted reader penned: “I think they deserve privacy but then we are paying for them.”
Please note that the poll is still live, so these results may change after the article has been published.
You can still vote in the poll HERE to have your say on the topic. Do you think the public have the right to know about the Royal Family’s health? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
