1982-present
Kate Middleton News: Princess of Wales Reveals She’s Receiving Treatment for Cancer
Kate Middleton has finally revealed the reason for her public absence: She is undergoing treatment for cancer. In a two-minute video message posted March 22, the Princess of Wales, 42, explained she is in the early stages of “preventative” chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer. She said the disease was discovered following the successful abdominal surgery she underwent on January 16.
“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,” Kate said, referencing her husband. “As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken time for me to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to [our children] George, Charlotte, and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them and to reassure them that I’m going to be OK.”
Kate said she is “well and getting stronger every day” but asks for “time, space, and privacy while I complete my treatment.” She is the second British royal family member to be diagnosed with cancer this year. Buckingham Palace announced February 5 that King Charles III also has the disease.
Due to her surgery, Kensington Palace had shared in January that the princess wasn’t expected to return to her royal duties until after Easter, on March 31. However, her lack of public appearances left clamoring fans to speculate on her health condition and gossip about her whereabouts. Online conversation intensified after the Palace shared a photo of Kate with her three children in honor of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom on March 10. However, news agencies around the world retracted the photo’s distribution after discovering the picture had been manipulated. Kate then took to social media to apologize in her first public statement in months.
According to the BBC, Kate and William won’t appear with the rest of the royal family on Easter Sunday. Multiple news outlets report the princess won’t return to her official duties until “she is cleared to do so by her medical team,” per a Palace statement.
Who Is Kate Middleton?
Kate Middleton is a member of the British royal family whose official title is Catherine, Princess of Wales. The Reading, England, native is married to Prince William. The royal wedding was held in April 2011 at London’s Westminster Abbey amid an international media frenzy. The couple has three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. In March 2024, Middleton revealed she is undergoing chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer that was discovered earlier this year.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Catherine, Princess of Wales
BORN: January 9, 1982
BIRTHPLACE: Reading, England
SPOUSE: William, Prince of Wales (2011-present)
CHILDREN: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis
SIBLINGS: Pippa Middleton and James Middleton
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn
Early Life and Family
Kate Middleton—officially known as Catherine, Princess of Wales—was born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton on January 9, 1982, in Reading, England. Her parents are Michael and Carole Middleton. Her younger sister is Pippa Middleton, and her younger brother is named James.
On her mother’s side, Kate came from a decidedly working-class stock of coal miners and builders. Her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Goldsmith, pushed her children to aim high. As a result, Kate’s mother became an airline hostess—at the time, a considerably glamorous job.
It was on this job at British Airways that Carole met Michael Middleton, an airline dispatcher, whose wealthy family hails from Leeds and which has ties to British aristocracy. The couple married soon after.
In 1987, her parents founded a mail-order party goods company. The business was a surprise success, eventually making the Middleton family multimillionaires. As a result of their parents’ business and newfound income, Kate and her siblings didn’t want for much.
Kate attended exclusive boarding schools, including St. Andrew’s Prep School, Downe House, and Marlborough College. Her time in boarding school didn’t come without its conflicts. Kate left the exclusive Downe House all-girls boarding school at age 14 due to bullying and taunts from other students.
On her first day at co-ed Marlborough, some particularly mean-spirited boys began rating incoming students based on attractiveness and personality. They gave Middleton a two out of 10. Despite the initial setbacks, she did well in her studies, passing 11 GCSEs and three A-level exams.
Prince William and Kate Middleton
Middleton met Prince William at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, when she became a student in 2001. They lived in the same dormitory at college, St. Salvator’s Hall, and shared several classes in their course schedule. Soon, they became friends.
While they often shared breakfast and walked to classes together, the two weren’t interested in each other romantically at first. Middleton was dating senior Rupert Finch, and William was busy dealing with the press and struggling with his feelings about his new school.
Royal Romance
In March 2002, Middleton appeared in an exclusive fashion-show fundraiser wearing a revealing dress. William was also present at the charity event and became intrigued and interested in Kate in a new way. He attempted to engage her romantically that evening but, still in a relationship with Finch, Middleton spurned the future king’s advances.
At the end of the 2002 school term, Middleton’s boyfriend graduated, and the couple soon parted ways over issues of distance. Newly single and entering her sophomore year, Middleton and several friends were invited to share a flat with William, a setting that allowed their budding romance to blossom.
At first, Middleton’s life didn’t change much. The couple kept their relationship a secret, mostly due to the prince’s extreme distrust of the press. The couple agreed not to hold hands in public or be seen sitting together at dinner parties. This seemed to throw off the press for the most part.
But in 2004, Kate was caught by paparazzi while on a royal family ski trip. Her relationship with William became the subject of intense scrutiny, and by 2005, she was a tabloid favorite. The two graduated together that summer, with Middleton earning an honors degree in art history.
In February 2006, it was announced that Middleton would receive her own 24-hour security detail from the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department. This led to rumors that Middleton was being groomed for a position of royalty. However, with William headed off to a military academy, Middleton was faced with tending to the paparazzi frenzy alone.
Alleged Split
In April 2007, Middleton and William were believed to have split. Allegedly pressured by the royal family to either propose or let Middleton move on with her life, William apparently broke off the couple’s five-year relationship over the phone.
Media reports said otherwise, however, as Middleton was spotted at several royal events accompanied by the prince only a few months later. Other rumors indicated that the couple was living together. Both parties denied the rumors.
Marriage Proposal and Engagement Ring
On November 16, 2010, Middleton and William announced their engagement. The prince proposed during a vacation to Kenya, presenting Kate with the engagement ring worn by his mother, Princess Diana.
The ring, made by crown jeweler Garrard, features a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire set in white gold and surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds. The ring was reportedly inspired by a brooch created in 1840 for Prince Albert as a wedding present for Queen Victoria, which she wore on her wedding day as her “something blue.” The design is now available for anyone to buy at Garrard. “It’s beautiful—I hope I look after it! It’s very special,” Middleton said in the couple’s official engagement interview.
The couple then announced plans to live in North Wales, where William was stationed with the Royal Air Force, after their marriage.
Royal Wedding to Prince William
Kate and Prince William married on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in London.
She wore a dress designed by Sarah Burton, a fact that remained a closely guarded secret until the big day. Kate also donned a tiara that the Queen Mother received from her husband, King George VI, in 1936. Shortly before the wedding, Queen Elizabeth II conferred Middleton with the title of Catherine, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge.
The wedding reportedly cost close to $34 million, $32 million of which was for security. Guests included Elton John and David and Victoria Beckham; 23 million people watched the ceremony live on television.
Children
The Princess and Prince of Wales have three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Prince George
On July 22, 2013, at 4:24 p.m. local time, Kate gave birth to her eldest son, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge, weighing in at 8 pounds and 6 ounces. Currently, Prince George is second in line to the British throne following his father, William.
St. James Palace officially announced that Kate and William were pregnant with their first baby on December 3, 2012, after almost a year of baby rumors and much speculation. On the same day of the announcement, Middleton was hospitalized at King Edward VII hospital in London with acute morning sickness.
Anticipating the arrival of the couple’s first born, by July 2013, international media outlets began establishing a regular presence in front of St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. St. Mary’s was the same hospital where Princess Diana gave birth to William and later Prince Harry.
Princess Charlotte
On May 2, 2015, Kate gave birth to a daughter named Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces, at 8:34 a.m. local time at St. Mary’s Hospital. Kate’s second pregnancy was announced in September 2014.
Charlotte was Queen Elizabeth II’s fifth great-grandchild and is the third in line to the throne after her father, William, and brother Prince George. A recent change in succession rules gives preference to birth order over gender, allowing Charlotte to remain a spot ahead of Prince Louis.
Prince Louis
On April 23, 2018, Prince Louis Arthur Charles was born, weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces, at 11:01 a.m. local time at St. Mary’s Hospital. Prince Louis is fourth in line to the throne after Prince William, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte.
Kensington Palace announced that Kate and William were expecting their third child in September 2017. The statement revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge was suffering from severe morning sickness, known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum, as she had during her pregnancies with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Careers
Kate’s full-time job is as Princess of Wales, her royal title since September 2022. However, before marrying William and after graduating college, she worked in other endeavors.
Finding a job was difficult as the girlfriend of the prince; the position had to be considered respectable by the royal family, while also allowing Middleton the flexibility to take off at a moment’s notice to be with the prince. In November 2006, Middleton finally found an acceptable position as an assistant accessories buyer with the British clothing chain Jigsaw in London. It was later reported that she left the company in order to study portrait photography.
In 2010, it was revealed that Middleton had been working on plans to start a new bakery business with her brother, James, who ran The Cake Kit Company. The business had the goal of encouraging kids to cook and making it easier to bake party cakes.
Topless Tabloid Controversy
Kate made headlines in September 2012 when photos of her sunbathing topless in southern France were published by a French magazine, Closer. Soon after, the photos were reproduced in publications in Ireland and Italy.
As soon as the news broke about the photos in Closer, the British royal family became involved in a legal battle to obtain the rights to the photos, in hopes of preventing other publications from printing them. According to The Los Angeles Times, the photos weren’t picked up by any news organizations in Britain.
Shortly after Closer published the photos, on September 18, 2012, the royal family won their copyrights in court. A judge ordered the French magazine to hand over the photos within 24 hours of the court’s decision, according to The L.A. Times. Closer faced daily fines of $13,000, as well as fines for any reprints of the photos, if it failed to meet the 24-hour timeline.
Foundation and Mental Health Advocate
Through what is now known as The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, Kate teamed up with her husband and her brother-in-law Prince Harry to form the Heads Together initiative to raise awareness of mental health issues. In January 2018, they announced the launch of a website designed to provide resources for teachers and schools seeking help in that area.
“We know that mental health is an issue for us all—children and parents, young and old, men and women—of all backgrounds and of all circumstances,” Kate said. “I see time and time again that there is so much to be gained from talking of mental health and taking the mental health of our children as seriously as we do their physical health. When we intervene early in life, we help avoid problems that are much more challenging to address in adulthood.”
In April 2020, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Kate and William pledged to use their foundation to support frontline responders and families during the health crisis.
Abdominal Surgery and Cancer Diagnosis
The Princess of Wales was hospitalized for 13 days after successfully undergoing a planned abdominal surgery on January 16, 2024, in London. Kensington Palace released a statement the following day that Kate wouldn’t return to public duties until after Easter. “She hopes the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private,” it read.
Despite this notice, the Princess of Wales’ absence sparked furor on the internet as royal fans continued to speculate on what her abdominal surgery was for and why she has been out of the spotlight for so long. Paparazzi photographed the Princess only twice since her most recent public appearance on Christmas Day 2023. Kate was seen in a car with her mother in early March then leaving Windsor Castle with Prince William on March 11. That same day, she issued a rare personal apology for editing a photo with her children that Kensington Palace had released in honor of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom. News agencies around the world retracted the photo’s distribution after discovering the picture had been manipulated.
On March 22, Kate ended the speculation about her whereabouts with a short video shared on the social media site X. “At the time [of my surgery], it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous,” she said. “However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.” She revealed she is in the early stages of “preventative” chemotherapy for her unspecified form of cancer.
Given her ongoing treatment, Kensington Palace shared in March that “the Princess will return to official duties when she is cleared to do so by her medical team.” Prince William briefly suspended his public duties during his wife’s hospitalization and initial surgical recovery. His first royal engagement after Kate’s surgery was February 7, and he has appeared at other events since. However, he missed his godfather’s funeral in late February due to a personal matter, according to Kensington Palace. The Palace clarified in March that the personal matter was Kate’s cancer diagnosis.
Quotes
- I really hope I can make a difference. Even in the smallest way. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can.
- By far, the best dressing-up outfit I ever wore was a pair of clown dungarees, which my granny made. They were white with big red spots, and she used a hula hoop for the waistband—genius.
- [Prince Charles] was very, very friendly; very welcoming.
- Over the years, William has really looked after me.
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