'Incredibly tough couple of months': Princess of Wales undergoing cancer treatment

it was a message unlike any before from

the Princess of Wales sitting in the

spring gardens of Windsor she revealed

to the world that she's receiving

treatment for cancer it was a deeply

personal and moving message from Kate

after what she admitted had been an

incredibly tough time for her William

and their young family following intense

speculation about her health Kate spoke

of the importance of taking time to

explain what was happening to George

Charlotte and Louie before telling the

public it was after her abdominal

surgery in surgery in January that tests

first revealed cancer had been present

and she's now undergoing preventative

chemotherapy the news comes less than

two months after the king's cancer

diagnosis and tonight he spoke of his

pride at the courage his beloved

daughter-in-law had shown Kate says she

is now focused on healing in mind body

and

spirit her last official moment in

public was on Christmas day today the

princess of Wales chose to reappear in

front of the cameras to make a very

personal and moving announcement here is

that statement from Kate in full from

beginning to end 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 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 test 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 of 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 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'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 so why did Kate not share anything

until today it was to protect her and

William's children the oldest George is

only 10 but today all three finished

school for the Easter holidays which

means they can be protected and largely

shielded from what is tonight a global

news

story shortly after Kate's announcement

the king said he was so proud of her for

her courage and he'd been in the closest

contact with in his words his beloved

daughter-in-law throughout the past week

there was also a statement from Harry

and Megan despite the acrimony of recent

years from California they wrote We Wish

health and healing for Kate and the

family and hope they are able to do so

privately and in

peace the Princess of Wales spent 13

nights at the London Clinic following

abdominal surgery in January she asked

for privacy at the time she got it at

first but not for very long a few weeks

after the public eye and an 11th Hour

cancellation by William at this

Thanksgiving service for his Godfather

and the rumors and conspiracies went

into

overdrive none of it helped by Kate

admitting she had digitally manipulated

her Mother's Day photo but the wild

speculation about her health has been

deeply hurtful and tonight the Prime

Minister condemned those who subjected

Kate to it rishy sunak wrote in recent

weeks she has been subjected to intense

scrutiny and has been fairly treated by

certain sections of the media around the

world and on social media at the White

House Tonight the subject of Kate's

Health was discussed right at the outset

as the president's press secretary came

to the microphone we just heard

obviously all of us just heard the

terrible news and certainly we wish her

a full recovery uh and I think it's

important that uh we respect their

privacy especially at this time so I'm

not going to go further further than

that Kate has now asked for privacy

including when she's out with her family

this video obtained by the son was taken

last weekend at a farm shop near Windsor

Kensington Palace will now take action

if Kate's privacy is invaded that said

she may appear at public events if her

doctors permit but it will not

necessarily indicate her official return

to work for now she is out of the public

eye for the foreseeable future chis News

at

10 so for the second time in as many

months we find ourselves reporting on

the cancer treatment of a senior member

of the royal family as with the King

just what kind of cancer the Princess of

Wales had was not made public what we do

know is that she is in the early stages

of preventative chemotherapy a treatment

designed to stop cancerous cells

appearing elsewhere in the

body yeah we treated

s just a month before she became a

hospital patient the Princess of Wales

was at a children's hospital to see how

young people prepare and recover from

surgery Weeks Later she'd be doing the

same Kensington Palace is not revealing

the type or stage of cancer she has but

we do know she's in the early stages of

chemotherapy in late February the

princess started a course of

preventative chemotherapy that's when

doctors believe the primary tumor has

been removed removed but there might

still be cancer cells somewhere else in

the body it aims to prevent metastasis

the spread of cancer cells from the part

of the body where they first formed to

another these treatments can look like

either tablets or they drugs that are

injected it depends on the type of

cancer and they're often given either

all the time or intermittently they can

obviously affect the the normal cells in

your body as well so you can get some

side effects so hopefully she'll be able

to manage those and then the

chemotherapy will do what it needs to do

and then it will finish and then

hopefully she will be

fine she and William have supported

cancer causes here opening a new

Children's Cancer Center at the Royal

Maron Hospital Kate now joins the almost

400,000 people who are diagnosed with

cancer every year in the UK Kate going

public is very much in the same way as

the king going public with his can

diagnosis it's saying that cancer isn't

something that you you can't talk about

um that there are treatment options

available and that being open means that

um also says that you're not alone 3 2

[Music]

1 tonight the head of NHS England

praised Kate's bravery for speaking out

high-profile cancer cases like this

often prompt others to check their

health many will simply have deep

empathy and sympathy Rebecca Barry News

at

10 well it was at 6:00 this evening that

news of Kate's treatment broke as

Kensington Palace released the video

after so much unfounded chatter many

people found it shocking to hear the

reality of the Princess of Wales Health

struggles her message to others facing

cancer as we just heard was You Are Not

Alone a sentiment directed back to her

in countless words of support tonight

messages of support are coming from all

over the world and nowhere more so than

Windsor here she's not just their

princess but also their neighbor so sad

to hear it she's a beautiful woman

really really sad hope she gets better

soon it's terribly sad news especially

with her father-in-law as well what

message would you like to send to

Catherine well wish her well and

hopefully she will be from Windsor to

the West Midlands that sentiment is

shared around the nation it's very sad

for the whole family for everybody

especially William you know he's lost

his mother now you know hopefully she'll

she'll make a recovery it's incredibly

sad yeah yeah incredbly sad for any

family that's just the worst news isn't

it yeah she's got young children as well

they need to you know they need to be as

a family by the World of Sports United

tonight and paying tribute to the

princess the all England Club at

Wimbledon said that thoughts are with

their Patron and her

family she has the same role with

England rugby who have wished her a full

and speedy

recovery Prince William is the president

of the fa the England Football manager

has sent the princess a personal message

and we just wanted to send our thoughts

and best wishes to her and all of her

family um remarkably dignified statement

that she gave and uh yeah we obviously

have a very close relationship with the

family so uh we're very upset to hear

the news but uh uh hopefully everything

goes

well the scouts say she is a constant

Champion for young people adding that

they're grateful for her continuing

service outside the Royal residences

this evening wellwishers are still

processing the news because in the US

we've been wondering what's going on and

we you know I feel like we almost follow

the Royals there maybe more than people

do here so there's been a lot of

speculation and like wondering about

what's going on with Kate so it's really

sad I think to hear that news I was a

McMillan Pala of care nurse and I'm now

a priest in the Church of England so

both have allegiance to the royal family

so it's incredibly sad the princess of

Welles has personally thanked

wellwishers for their messages of

support a countless number that are

coming from from every corner of the

globe Amy Lewis News at 10

Windsor well when the king the queen

William and Kate all stepped out

together for church on Christmas day no

one could have predicted how much would

change in three short months two now

being treated for cancer their Partners

caring for them and supporting their

families while still undertaking Royal

engagements they are uniquely

challenging circumstances for the

monarchy the rain of King Charles III is

not even 2 years old the message

presented on Coronation Day just last

summer was one of settled steady

continuity but the Royal household has

been shaken by ill

health so front of house for the house

of Windsor is a new Queen who represents

her husband on the engagements he can no

longer make and a prince of Wales whose

priority now has to be his wife and

young family we went through quite phase

when the queen and Prince philli were

unable to do things very much partly

because of lockdown and partly because

of their great age and at that point the

royal family rallied around now you have

the king um still operating as king but

basically invisible and the Princess of

Wales recuperating um this means that

it's a very very slim down monarchy and

um very difficult and they will all have

to Rally around and do the best they can

good evening your majesty the king is

very clearly determined to continue with

his duty his head of state it's

wonderful to see you looking so well

yeah it's all done by mirrors like his

meetings with the Prime Minister and his

hosting of diplomatic receptions your

majesty I hope doing

well but much of all business now will

be conducted by two people who in

private are helping those dearest to

them through devastating

diagnoses Tessy Ojo hosted the Prince of

Wales at a charity award ceremony last

week he was in great form it was amazing

to to have him and knowing now what we

know about this news you almost think

that how do they cope you know how do

you have all of that bubbling behind the

scene and yet you are you are completely

devoted to service and that's I suppose

that's also a lesson for us a

challenging unsettling start then to the

reign of King Charles building a

monarchy for the 21st century was always

going to be a difficult test for the

royal family through no fault of its own

that task is now even harder G Vinson

News at

10 and Chris is here to talk us through

the events of the day um so much to

unpack with You Chris really but we

should just start with the the the raw

fact of the video from the Princess of

Wales I mean in terms of communicating

with the public talking about something

so deeply private this was an

astonishing moment wasn't it yeah

astonishing a bit a bit of a stroke in

the sense of like she wanted to

communicate very sort of personally to

to everybody out there and don't forget

we've had all this hysteria and rumor

over the last um few weeks but you know

Julie I was thinking earlier this time

last year we were in the runup to the

coronation it had been a largely smooth

uh transition from Queen Elizabeth II

after the long Reign that she had to to

the one of King Charles uh iiii and yet

we enter 2024 with first the king's

prostate operation then cancer Kate's

abdominal surgery and now cancer and I'm

not one of these uh people that thinks

this is a crisis for the monarchy but it

certainly feels really precarious at the

moment you've got the top out of the top

four members of the royal family two are

currently being treated uh for for

cancer and it has been a rather sort of

miserable time to put it mildly in terms

of all those sort of you know the

hysteria on social media Etc about what

is wrong with Kate and while we haven't

seen her so all in all um yeah it it

feels pretty miserable and you know

Kate's now asked for and can expect to

get uh the Privacy that she wanted all

along and we'll talk talk a bit about

the family in a moment but ju just to

touch on the fact that it is it is quite

tricky isn't it to sit in front of a

camera and deliver if that's not what

you're used to doing and it was a long

uh Speech effectively from a long

message from her very personal and very

emotional yeah I thought it was the the

most emotional and personal I've ever

seen her I've watched her do quite a few

speeches uh in my time in this job and

yes she was very personal it was very

emotive she connected I think very very

well and particularly you know at the

end when she spoke about uh you know

you're not alone if you've got cancer

and so many people say and we discussed

this when the king announced his cancer

so many people feel alone when they get

that diagnosis clear right through the

whole of it though that the focus is

firmly on the family yes and and let's

let's just you know think about the

children there are three children there

George uh is the oldest of them this is

then when they started at lamri school

um in September

2022 um now lamri school today uh broke

up for the Easter holidays uh and

therefore whilst the kids have known

about this for some time they can Shield

them from all that you know because

George will have friends who will have

social media and you know they want to

Shield them from it but I think it's

probably just worth listening to to what

Kate said again about about her children

that

message most importantly it has taken us

time to EXP 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

to you as is the love support and

kindness that has been shown by so many

of you it means so much to us both and

just to Quick point on the wording if

you look at it very closely Kensington

Palace said she had cancer not has

cancer and she's now having preventative

chemotherapy so I think a lot of people

might take a bit of Hope from that that

that that you know that the Outlook was

you know scary it's the CW uh but it

might be quite

good