Kate Finally Addresses Concerns Over Her Health Amid Reports She’s ‘Fortunate’ to Still Be Alive: ‘You Put on a Brave Face… ‘
After a year of treatment, Kate Middleton broke her silence about her mental health following her cancer treatment. The Princess of Wales opened up to fellow patients and staff members of the NHS about her health journey and where she’s at today when it comes to listening to her body.
“You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment,” she recalled about her cancer journey while visiting Colchester Hospital in Essex on July 1. “Treatment’s done, then it’s like, ‘I can crack on, get back to normal,’ but actually, the phase afterwards is really, really difficult.”
The Princess of Wales was diagnosed with cancer in April 2024 and underwent treatment until September 2024, when she finished chemotherapy. She announced she was in remission in January 2025.
“You’re not necessarily under the clinical team any longer, but you’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to,” she said. “And actually, someone to help talk you through that, show you and guide you through that sort of phase that comes after treatment, I think is really valuable.”
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“You have to find your new normal and that takes time…and it’s a roller coaster, it’s not smooth, like you expect it to be,” the royal concluded. “But the reality is you go through hard times.”
The statement comes weeks after Kate suddenly announced her absence from the Royal Ascot, but according to royal sources, she’s still taking it one day at a time.
“I can say that, from what I understand, she is fortunate to even be speaking of recovery,” royal correspondent Rebecca English wrote in the Daily Mail. “On some levels I actually think this is a good reminder that she was really seriously ill last year and underwent a significant period of chemo. As anyone who has been through that experience will tell you, you can feel very unwell for a long time afterwards. It can take years [to recover].”
The Royal Ascot took place in the same week as the Trooping the Colour and the Order of the Garter service. “The important thing here is Kate’s recovery. It was too much, unfortunately, for her to have three appearances in under a week, and the lesson has been learned,” she explained. “Kate will take it much easier for the rest of the year. I’d be surprised if you see her more than three times in the next three months.”
“Kate is recalibrating her entire life, her entire work-life balance,” the insider continued. “[Ascot] was a wakeup call, not a one-off. She has never found the public appearances, and the forensic attention and criticism that goes with them, at all easy to deal with, and it was just too much this week.
In addition to the cancer treatment, what was going on behind the scenes with the royal rift between William and his brother have taken a toll on the future Queen. A source told The Daily Beast, “The last few years have been horrific; the disgusting things that Harry said about her and William and her family, the relentless speculation about her and William, the queen’s death, the king’s diagnosis which had them both thinking they were going to have to take over and then her own cancer diagnosis and treatment. It’s all taken its toll, and if she needs more time to recover, William will fight tooth and nail to see she is given it.”
