Catherine Princess of Wales undergoing cancer treatment | BBC News

at 6 the Princess of Wales has just

announced that she is undergoing

treatment for cancer here now is a very

personal message from her which has just

been released in which she explains what

has been happening in recent

weeks I wanted to take this opportunity

to say thank you personally for all the

wonderful messages of support and for

your understanding whilst I've been

recovering from

surgery it has been an incredibly tough

couple of months for our entire family

but I've had a fantastic medical team

who have taken great care of me for

which I'm so

grateful in January I underwent major

abdominal surgery in London and at the

time it was thought that my condition

was

non-cancerous the surgery was successful

however tests after the operation found

cancer had been

present my medical team therefore

advised that I should undergo a course

of preventative chemotherapy and I'm now

in the early stages that

treatment this of course came as a huge

shock 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 Louie in a way

that's appropriate for them and to

reassure them that I'm going to be

okay as I've said to them I am well and

getting stronger every day by focusing

on the things that will help me heal in

my mind body and

Spirits having William by my side is a

great source of comfort and reassurance

too as is the love support and kindness

that has been shown by so many of you it

means so much to us

both we hope that you'll understand that

as a family we now need some time SP

face 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'm able but for now

I must focus on making a full

recovery at this time I'm also thinking

of all those whose lives have been

affected by cancer for everyone facing

this disease in whatever form please do

not lose Faith or hope you are not alone

the Princess of Wales with a very

personal message that was filmed on

Wednesday in windso while our Royal

correspondent Daniel Ralph is with me

now a huge shock to Katherine as she

says it's going to be a huge shock to

millions of other people as well yeah

that's right um a huge shock as you say

to the Princess of Wales and clearly a

very deeply upsetting time for her and

her family in recent weeks and what's

very clear from hearing from the team

around the prince and princess today is

that this has been entirely driven by

trying to protect protect the children

that has been the focus of the prince

and princess of Wales in recent weeks it

is why this news has come out today

today is when Prince George princess

Charlotte and Prince Louie break up from

school for the Easter holidays and it

was felt that this was the moment to go

public uh because they're now able to

protect them as parents protect their

children from the scrutiny and the

spotlight that might have been going on

had they still been at school they now

have two to three weeks to spend some

time privately as a family and the

prince and princess of well had wanted

to make sure they tell the CH children

properly appropriately about this

diagnosis and give them time to take

that in so that is why it is today that

we have found out and the tone of her

message I am well she says in that video

I hope to make a full recovery I mean

that is the that is very much her tone

isn't it her message yeah we are told

that the princess is feeling very

positive and is very hopeful of making a

full recovery I think anybody who has

just watched that video message they

will see her vulnerability in it and see

how difficult things have been with her

for her but I also think that it's

clearly been a very difficult time in

terms of speculation and rumor and that

video is Catherine in her own words done

in her own way and the hope is that she

will now be able to perhaps quell some

of that more outlandish rumor and

speculation about her condition a very

difficult time as well for the monarchy

isn't it the monarchy being all about

stability that's right it is a very

unstable time for the monarchy and the

British royal family at the moment we're

not going to see the prince princess of

wells for some time on any kind of

normal schedule of public duty

we're also not seeing the king very much

either as he is undergoing his own

cancer treatment so there are two key

significant figures from public life

missing and it is very noticeable but

the royal family say that both are doing

well they want to focus on their

recovery having some privacy and that

they will be back in business on world

Duty as soon as possible Daniela thank

you and you've been looking back over

the last few weeks and the impact that

all of this has been having on the royal

family let's see your report

now this was the last official footage

of the Princess of Wales with the royal

family on Christmas Day at Sandringham

with her three children who she is now

so Keen to protect after going public

with news of Her diagnosis back in

December all seemed well as she spoke to

the crowds thank you so much that's very

sweet of you to come and say hello to us

yeah very happy

Christmas but 3 weeks later she was

admitted to hospital for major abdominal

surgery it was in her postoperative

tests that signs of cancer were found

the clamor for information about the

princess's condition has been intense

this footage published earlier this week

filmed by a member of the public showed

her shopping in Windsor with her husband

last weekend and this photo released on

Mother's Day to ease some of the public

speculation did the opposite with the

princess issuing a statement to say she

had made some edits to the image a

turning point appears to have been this

Thanksgiving service in Windsor for King

Constantine of Greece at the end of

February the rest of the the royal

family were there but the Prince of

Wales pulled out that morning very

suddenly due to a personal matter we now

know this was around the time the

princess was diagnosed and began her

treatment it has been an incredibly

turbulent time for the family the

couple's priority has been to protect

their children and ensure they have time

to explain what's wrong to Prince George

princess Charlotte and Prince Louie they

now hope the speculation and rumors will

stop as they spend time privately as a

family for the Easter holiday the

princess won't be back to a full program

of public duty for some time we may see

her occasionally but only when her

medical team have approved for now the

Princess of Wales wants time space and

privacy to deal with her diagnosis and

Recovery Daniela Ralph BBC News well

let's talk to our medical editor Fergus

Walsh now as with King Charles we are

being given very little information

about what it exactly is that she's been

treated for but from the few details we

have what more can you tell us okay well

Sophie we we are not being told what

type of cancer this is nor what stage it

was caught at now both of those are

crucial factors and I'm not going to

speculate on either of those but the

tone of the Princess of Wales statement

is very positive in terms of recovery

what we have been told is that the

cancer was found after she had this

successful abdominal surgery and it was

discovered once the postoperative tests

had been completed and the results have

been reviewed now she is now undergoing

a course of what she described as

preventative chemotherapy that began

late last month now chemotherapy is an

umbrella term for any drug treatment to

kill cancer now it can either be given

to mop up any remaining cancer cells

that may remain behind once there's been

successful surgery to remove the cancer

or to ensure that the cancer doesn't

return in the future now it can be given

as an infusion but increasingly it can

be given in t as tablets daily tablets

and the treatment for cancer has

transformed in recent years much of uh

daily ta tablet treatment can be taken

at home um in terms

of the the future Catherine is stressing

she is well and getting stronger every

day she's 42 years old she's only just

turn 42 how unusual is it for a woman of

her age to be treated for cancer Li well

cancer touches the lives of every family

one in two of us will get cancer and it

is more common the older we get but

thousands of people every year are are

diagnosed at a younger age a thousand

people a day in in the UK are given a

cancer diagnosis now it is obviously a

huge shock a cancer diagnosis f for any

family but three million people in the

UK are living with cancer and I think

the message at the end when Katherine

urged others affected by cancer not to

lose Faith or hope I think that is a key

message this evening absolutely Fergus

wash our medical editor thank you well

let's talk to Helen Wilkinson our

correspondent who is in Windsor where

the family live and the Easter holidays

approaching and the princess of Welles

making it very clear that the focus very

much now for her is on her family at

home yes that's absolutely right Sophie

um the news here in Windsor a number of

tourists outside the castle are just

starting to hear about the news of the

princess of wales's uh cancer diagnosis

it will come as a shock across the world

but also to people who uh visit this

tourist town and also residents here

because as you say uh princess the

Princess of Wales and her family there

three young children uh live here in

Windsor at adelay cottage which is

around half a mile from where we live

and that very personal statement from

Katherine we've had in the last 10

minutes or so where she spoke about how

they've had to she and Prince William

have had to talk to their three young

children uh George Charlotte and Louie

uh in probably very careful words and uh

very wellth thought out words about her

cancer diagnosis because for young

children to hear that their mother has

cancer will no doubt be very devastating

and probably confusing as well so what

they'll be trying to do as a family is

uh stay very close of course and keep

very private uh here at their home in

Windsor they have been able to uh on the

whole while Katherine has been

recovering from what she has said this

evening has had been major abdom

abdominal surgery uh but they will

continue or she will continue her

recovery here in Windsor as you say

Sophie the Easter holidays just getting

underway for her three children and the

family felt like like this was the right

time to go public with the news but now

they clearly want space uh for her to

continue with the the preventative Cuma

therapy that she has uh been undertaking

started very recently Helena Wilkinson

in Windsor thank you very much and we

will of course return to that story

later