New details on Princess Kate's health, treatment and more

we are coming on the air with a CBS News

special report I'm Nora odonnell in

Washington we have just learned some

breaking news from Kensington Palace in

London the Princess of Wales Kate

Middleton revealing that she has been

diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing

chemotherapy and now the dreaded news

from London and Kensington Palace that

the Princess of Wales has cancer as she

revealed there that she underwent major

abdominal surgery in London at the time

they thought it was not cancer they

released that publicly but now uh

Katherine is saying that in the tests

afterward they did discover that there

was cancer and that they have advised

her to undergo a course of preventive

chemotherapy that started in late

February you can only imagine uh what

this is like for a young mother she is

42 years old a mom to George 10

Charlotte 8 Louie uh 5 she has not been

seen since Christmas day that was nearly

3 months ago and at the time it was

thought that she was recovering from

this abdominal surgery but of course uh

in many days the speculation has grown

about her health the concern about the

Princess of Wales 4 2 years old and of

course her husband uh William who lost

his mother at the age of 15 Princess

Diana and of course the king undergoing

treatment as well now for cancer let's

bring in senior forign correspondent

Charlie Daga he is in London and Charlie

as we heard the princess say this has

come as a huge shock to them and I can

only imagine for the people there too

processing this news yeah well we just

got news just a few minutes ago that

this was going to happen it was a

2-minute 15 um presentation as it were I

was filmed two days ago uh as far as the

palace is concerned they've given us

some information they say she's in good

spirits uh she's focused on her recovery

uh she's hugely grateful to the medical

team uh for the the care that they're

providing she now needs time space and

privacy to complete her treatment and

make a full recovery so as you said we

don't know which cancer or when it was

diagnosed um or even when the treatment

began specifically and they told us to

stay away from speculation and guessing

those dates now as for the timing of the

announcement itself the palace told us

they wanted to wait until Easter break

and that's today when the children are

out of school um they wanted time to

reassure uh the children that she's

going to be okay and now they've just

asked uh for media to refrain from

chasing up further medical details and

to restrain from further speculation the

family may attend church on Sunday but

for any public events it's hard to know

when Kate's going to be back or when

she'll be given the green light I

understand that Kensington Palace has

given some information to reporters what

did the palace say when asked what type

of cancer this is yeah well I'm just

reading right off the statement that

they gave us he said once postoperative

tests have been completed and results

were reviewed uh as for guidance they're

not going to confirm specific dates and

they're asking the media not to

speculate so they really both what Kate

had to say the palace had to say are

both in line that it was not diagnosed

at the time of her abdominal surgery uh

it was since diagnosed but we don't know

when that diagnosis uh took place or we

don't know when the preventative

chemotherapy as they describe it began

but as you said you know there's been so

much speculation she's been out of the

public eye for so many months uh there's

questions about that image that was

released everybody's been worried really

um about uh her well-being so in one way

this will help clear up some of the

confusion but it's also going to raise

concerns here about her wellbeing Charli

dag AS stand by I want to bring in our

chief medical correspondent Dr John Leo

who joins us now and Dr leuk I mean this

is the worst news for anyone when they

learn about this themselves for their

family members and of course um princess

Katherine is so young 42 with young

children and of course she does have a

right to privacy when you read the

statement and what the palace has

revealed what were your thoughts well

first of all um it was a big surprise

because we had we had been told that it

was not cancerous and of course our

hearts go out to Kate and to her family

and and and all the people around her um

I will say there is one thing that you

know I wondered about specifics of

course what kind of cancer is it the the

devils are in the details um as a

gastroenterologist again they asked us

not to speculate but I do wonder about

the gastrointestinal tract um you know

the the colon or the small intestine and

less likely to me would be something uh

gynecologic but you always have to

consider that or even something else but

I will tell you something that was sort

of relatively encouraging to me Nora

which is they went in there and they

were

surprised after the fact so that's you

always want to find cancer in the

earliest stages they went in there to do

whatever procedure they were going to do

uh and they knew it was going to be some

prolonged recovery and in there when

presumably they were able to take a good

look they didn't see any evidence of

cancer and it was only afterwards when I

guess there maybe was an examination of

a specimen a surgical specimen that they

said oh there's some cancer here so

since you always want to find cancer in

the earliest stages whatever kind of

cancer it is to me that was sort of a

relatively good piece of news yes and

the palace did speak with reporters off

camera reporters did ask what stage of

cancer was it and uh they're not sharing

information about that stage of cancer

because they say the princess has a

right to privacy I do want to ask you on

that note because they said she began

preventive chemotherapy in late February

what does that mean well you know I'm

just going to give it for example for

example with colon cancer we don't know

that that's what this is but I'm going

to give that as an example if it's um

unless it's at the very very earliest

stages it's typical to give what's

called adivin chemotherapy which usually

you know at least here it can change

from place to place it's three months of

chemotherapy various combinations it

could be pills plus and IV um and the

idea is well maybe there are some tiny

microscopic cells somewhere and we don't

want to give them a chance to grow up we

want to nail them right now when they're

when they're not yet you know clumped

together and growing into big masses so

it when you talk about preventive it's

not really it's really treatment right

so it's a confusing term but you're

preventing the uh growth of whatever

microscopic cells are out there uh in

the future and let me ask you about that

if you're undergoing just generally

speaking that type of preventive

chemotherapy how does it affect someone

you know it it can certainly you know

make you tired it can have side effects

for sure but I just got off the phone uh

with a cancer expert uh from NYU landone

Health where I'm a professor of Medicine

and he said yeah it can be a rough 3

months or so let's say for example um

but then people tend to have a 100%

recovery afterwards in terms of getting

their strength back and getting back to

normal function so I'm you know I'm an

optimist a realist too I wish I had more

information but I understand her desire

for for privacy and uh look the fact

that it was found so early and that they

kind of tripped on it they were

surprised by it uh even though we're

shocked by it and she was shocked by it

in the big picture it's actually

relatively encouraging that it was found

so early and we're doing that balancing

act as we always do right we really

don't want to speculate we want to

respect her privacy but they're coming

out and saying it's cancer and I think

you know cancer is a terrifying word to

people and my own personal feeling is

the more information that you would have

here the more more Assurance you can

give to people and including her

children and other people that look yes

it's cancer it was a terrifying word

much more terrifying I think 30 40 years

ago but there are so many treatments

there's so many great ways of taking

care of it there can be excellent

prognosis and if we knew more we may be

able to say boy this prognosis really is

quite good of course I don't want to be

poana here it's a serious diagnosis but

I think U the more information we would

have the better context we could all put

it in Charlie why is the palace only

sharing this information now yeah well

that was the question that came out in

the very very short briefing before this

was released and it says here from the

palace the princess wanted to share this

information when she said she and the

prince felt it was is right for them as

a family once again I told you this is

the Easter break right so it means that

the the family can come together there

will be a break from the kids having to

go back to school uh so they wanted to

be able to to reassure the children as

you mentioned there um it was important

for her Royal Highness have the time and

space to come to terms with their

diagnosis to recover from surgery and

then begin and I repeat it again the

pathway to recovery those are the words

that they're using uh the children had

been the priority they wanted to be able

to tell the three children when the time

was right allow them to understand and

process the news before it went public

so now as I said the children now away

from school on the Easter holidays Royal

highnesses feel it's the right time to

share this update and once again they're

asking for understanding for putting the

children's needs before the public this

is a a good place to ask you Charlie

about sort of the appetite for

information uh Charlie if you're with us

still um you know as Holly points out it

is not an Apples to Apples comparison uh

when you talk about for instance the the

Hollywood celebrities that Holly's

mentioning and then the Royals who have

obviously clearly very different roles

in our our respective societies but in

terms of just the Public's uh desire for

information there can you give us a

sense of what that's like uh what is

that appetite for information about the

Royals like it it has been Relentless

voracious and it's been that way for a

few months and it's been building up so

let me me remind you of that timeline so

Kensington Palace confirmed the Princess

of Wales left Hospital on January 29th

now 2 months ago uh according to this uh

she began treatment late February uh the

prince the prince of Wales had to pull

out of a memorial service for his

Godfather on the 27th then came that

photoshopped photo and they had to

explain that they had to apologize the

princess apologized herself for it so in

the meantime there's been this buildup

of where's Kate what's going on with

Kate is Kate okay we knew she had major

abdominal surgery and it's it's it's a

curiosity uh the uh social media hasn't

helped at all because as Holly said you

know the number of conspiracy theories

that we've seen about this and it may

just be of course they wanted to deal

with it on their own especially when it

comes to their children which they want

to be very protective of and William

very protective of Kate but it might

stand to reason that the the demand to

know what's going on may have forced

them to say look we finally have to come

clean with this it wouldn't have been an

easy decision to make and you saw how

uncomfortable she looked doing it um

yeah it's a tough thing you know this is

a family at heart and but the the

British expectations the tabloids in

particular nearly every single day

they've been going after it was this a

sighting of Kate and why isn't she

making a public appearance what is the

palace trying to hide so this is the

kind of demand for information and yes

they are public figures but there it's

also a private family dealing with as

John laug said you know the Big C and

that's that's a tough one yeah and and

let me ask you Dr lauk uh you know on

that point um it is impossible to

imagine I think for most people what

that white hot Spotlight of attention

must feel like at any given time where

Charlie is talking about one's every

move is being sort of scrutinized the

absence of your of of you being out in

the public is something that is very

much noticed can you just talk uh from

your own experience treating patients

who have been diagnosed and their

families the emotional impact that that

can have because uh as Charlie was

saying as Holly was saying you know this

is a wife this is a mother in addition

to being Katherine the Princess of Wales

uh she is a person who must be dealing

with the tremendous personal emotional

weight of not only her title but then

her role in her own family right I'm not

surprised that Holly with her enormous

emotional intelligence and

compassion pointed out first that she is

a human being this is a human being she

is a mother she is a person so yes the

public wants to know this maybe it's a

teaching moment we'd like more details

uh the doctor and me the optimistic

doctor in me thinks wow it was found

early if we knew a little more maybe

people would feel better if we could

explain exactly how it happened what was

that initial surgery and all of those

details but then there's the person

she's a human being

and you you think about the word empathy

here right because what I see with

patients who go through anything it

could be by the way open heart surgery

it could be major abdominal surgery it

could be suddenly finding out they have

cancer that you're in that fight flight

mode at the beginning you're

adrenaline's going your cortisol is

going you got to do this that and the

other thing and then you're sort of on a

better path and things may be you may be

recovering and then literally I've had

patients 2:00 in the morning bolt up in

the bed in a cold sweat weeks or months

later and be surprised by the thought of

oh my gosh that happened you know that

was a bullet that just went by my head

even if you if if it turned out fine and

then we all know that there's mortality

we all know that someday we're going to

die but there is that little thought

maybe maybe I am the first person who's

not going to die there's you know

especially younger people think that so

that first brush with mortality if

that's what this is um I don't know what

happened to her in her life before then

but that can be very

destabilizing and I think I would love

for I would if I could have a wish I'd

love for everybody to back off give her

her privacy let her recover there's

going to be a medical surgical recovery

recovery from the surgery in the w

wounds there but there's going to be a

longer psychological recovery and that's

going to be very difficult to do Under

the bright lights um Holly I'm curious

about uh obviously as this news begins

to sort of permeate right because it is

now evening uh in London um what would

we expect to see in terms of other

potential disclosures of information now

that we have had some kind of you know

very um in some ways specific but in

some ways leaves other questions

unanswered um statement is there

potentially um you know followup any

kind of other I mean do we have a sense

I suppose this is Uncharted Territory

it's a really interesting point though

Ela I mean as you know as I think we all

know the British royal family has this

strange fractious uh relationship with

the media but in particular the Tabloid

media the kind of powerful tabloid

newspapers in the UK and on the one hand

the royal family kind of needs the

newspapers because it's is saying that

you know you have to be seen to be

believed if you're the royal family they

kind of need that coverage to stay

relevant um but on the other hand the

newspapers sell papers get clicks online

with royal coverage but they can choose

whether it's positive coverage or

negative coverage I mean one person who

can tell you a lot about that is Megan

marle who suffered the negative coverage

right so on the one hand I think that

the British media is going to be

searching for any details that they can

get about this and people you know the

public in Britain wants more details but

on the other hand they are dealing with

an immensely popular person here a

person who you know only joined the

royal family in recent years she's

married into the royal family but she is

really loved and I think people's hearts

have gone out to her in the UK I think I

think my sense is that there's been less

of the kind of rumors and conspiracy

theories coming from the UK and more

just sympathy for her position so if the

media chases those details too hard or

reveals things that are considered

private um I think that they run the

risk of really you know angering the

British public I do think that if it's

limited chemotherapy adant chemotherapy

for several months you know I said for

example for colon cancer it's about

three months you know people can feel

lousy during that afterwards they tend

to recover so I think time will tell we

should be we're about was the end of

February when they started so we're

already at the end of March got another

couple of months maybe maybe it'll end

it in in I don't know but in three

months uh in a total of three months and

then she should recover quickly and

appearances are important in the world

right she'll start to have more color

she'll gain some weight she'll look

better to everybody and then hopefully

people will move on and she'll do well

all of this Charlie uh if you're still

with us is happening at a time as the

royal family uh is also uh it's

basically coming on the heels of the

news of King Charles and his his own

cancer remind us about that and the

disclosure that happened at that time

because when that happened uh I think a

lot of folks were genuinely surprised at

the level of detail provided then about

the

king share with you speaking of King

Charles this came from Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace spokesman saying his

majesty King Charles is so proud of

Katherine for her courage in speaking as

she did following their time in hospital

uh his majesty remained in closest

contact with his beloved daughter-in-law

throughout the past weeks both their

majesties will continue to offer their

love and support to the whole family

through this difficult time so the king

and queen the first message that we got

from Buckingham Palace about that but as

you said yes King Charles has been

dealing with his own uh cancer diagnosis

and treatment and when we heard that in

fact I was working that night when we

broke the news it was shocking enough

not only that something like that was

taking place the announcement itself but

the way it was going to be shared you

know in the past even with um his mother

they would have been reluctant to share

those sort of medical details and

something that would Shock the World As

Dr leuk said when you use the word

cancer it's a shocking thing to say so

we had King Charles say it we were

surprised that uh he had come out and

not given so much sort of granular

detail again as far as what kind of

cancer what the treatment was how long

it's going to take and then to see Kate

do the same thing so yeah this family's

going through a tough time very

difficult time well I want to say thank

you Charlie Gaga Holly Williams Dr John

lauk thank you all so much for sharing

your reporting and your Insight with us

I want to bring in Erin vanderhof now

she is a staff writer for Vanity Fair

and the co-host of vanity Fair's Dynasty

podcast Erin thanks very much for being

with us so let's talk about the timing

of this disclosure why do you think the

palace decided to go public

now well one thing that we know is that

uh The Prince and Princess of Wales

children will be off on Easter break

starting this weekend and so they will

be able to sort of you know not be

around other students when this news

comes out because I know that this is a

thing that both William and you know

Prince Harry have said in the past is

that like you know being around other

students when like big news about your

family comes out is really

stressful so we're thinking that's the

reason yeah and I wonder if you could

just give us a sense of the intense you

know appetite for information why is

there been you think so much fascination

with this particular

story well I think that there is a sense

that when Kate you know when we went

from seeing Kate nearly every day in the

year of 2023 to not seeing her at all

that something you know it felt a little

bit more serious than we understood and

I think that there's a you know maybe a

bet of Bri British understatement that

can go out in Palace Palace statement

sometimes and I you know I think that

the sense that something more serious

was going on felt pretty unal but just

you know I think in the US press we're

used to kind of asking questions and

getting answers and the palace does not

always operate like that least have the

opportunity to ask the questions yes

yeah well that's the thing about the

Palaces that they they treat American

and UK media super super super

differently and so I think the idea that

the UK press didn't seem to be freaking

out when there were no answers I think

was very discomfiting to American

readers yeah and I wonder um if you can

talk a bit about that though because we

know that um perhaps not the mainstream

press was was clamoring that we know

online there was a clamoring for

information that resulted in a lot of

disinformation um and and and rumors

sort of floating around and that the

absence of any details uh seem to be

part of the context anyway um for this

how significant is it that the palace

actually had uh the princess sit down

and record this video and then release

it uh to the public like

this well I mean I think that in general

we are seeing if we're in a new era for

Royal transparency and I think it's you

know as we've been seeing like it's not

always been enough for for us but at the

same time it's more transparent than

they've ever been in the past and I

think that there is this idea that Kate

really does you know when she does talk

about things she's not she does not love

to give speeches it's a thing she

doesn't do super often but when she has

something meaningful to say she does

like to be the person who can like

deliver the message and so I think that

in terms of both thinking about what the

most important like the easiest way to

make people to make sure people knew

like she is okay she is in Windsor but

also that she really is going through

something intense and would had a reason

to be away for as long as she did I

think that you know that there were a

lot of different competing ideas but it

seems to be the way that Kate does like

to deal with these things in other

situations yeah Erin I wonder if you can

give us a bit more context on sort of

the role that Kate Middleton played uh

in the Royal family and you say that she

was out quite a bit in 2023 give us a

sense I mean um her absence then in 2024

this year so far uh how much attention

did that initially

draw well so Kate um unlike you know

she's not like Princess Anne who is you

know does three four five different

engagements every single day but what

she does is that she has a couple of

Charities that she founded or works

really closely with and she will spend

you know her engagements always make a

lot of sense together they tell a story

um her outfits are you know her she's

always thinking really you know is she

going to be playing a sport is she going

to be getting down on the ground like

she really puts a lot of care into each

one of those engagements and so the

pictures are just like always really

stunning and so you get used to seeing

Kate doing a lot of she becomes she's

like the you know the kind of the heart

and soul of the royal family she's not

the person who's doing every engagement

but she is the person who when she's out

she attracts eyes and and I think at

first it didn't really make too much of

a difference because they usually take a

lot of time off um around Christmas it's

like the Royals always spend the

Christmas season up and Sandringham they

have a house up there so at first it

wasn't so strange but then I think once

it was the time where you know we did

see Camila going out we have seen an we

have seen Sophie like people have been

doing International trips that's when

the absence of Kate became really