The princess described the news as a “huge shock” and asked for “time, space and privacy” in a prerecorded video broadcast on the BBC on Friday evening in Britain.
Princess of Wales Announces Cancer Diagnosis
In a video statement, Catherine, Princess of Wales, said that she had been diagnosed with cancer and started chemotherapy.
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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 noncancerous. 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 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 Louis in a way that’s appropriate for them and to reassure them that I’m going to be OK. 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.
Here’s the latest on the Princess of Wales’s cancer news.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been diagnosed with cancer and has begun chemotherapy, she announced in a video message on Friday, in which she described the past two months as “incredibly tough for our entire family.”
Her diagnosis follows that of King Charles III, who announced his own cancer diagnosis and treatment in early February. It comes after a period of intense uncertainty about the health of Catherine, who underwent abdominal surgery in January and largely disappeared from public view as she tried to recuperate.
Like the king, Catherine, 42, did not specify what kind of cancer she had but asked the public and news media to respect her desire for privacy.
“We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,” said Catherine, who is the wife of Prince William and a future queen.
“This of course came as a huge shock,” Catherine said, “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.”
Catherine’s announcement is a grim coda to a period of increasingly wild rumors about her health and well-being. But it plunges the British royal family into a period of even deeper uncertainty, with both the 75-year-old monarch and his daughter-in-law, the wife of his eldest son and heir and the mother of Prince George, the second in line to throne, facing grave health problems.
In her statement, Catherine said that at the time her surgery was performed, doctors believed that her condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful, she said, but in further tests, the doctor found evidence of cancer. They recommended a course of chemotherapy, which she said she had recently begun.
“It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment,” Catherine said in the video. “But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”
Catherine’s announcement eerily echoed that of Charles’s. Buckingham Palace said that the king’s cancer was detected after a procedure for an enlarged prostate. While the palace has said he does not have prostate cancer, it has not specified what kind of cancer it is, nor his prognosis.
Until Catherine’s video on Friday, Kensington Palace, where William and Catherine have their offices, had released even fewer details about her condition, an information vacuum that led to a raft of rumors and conspiracy theories on social media.
In the video, which Kensington Palace said was recorded by BBC Studios in Windsor on Wednesday, Catherine is sitting on a bench outside, with daffodils and trees in blossom behind her.
Her hands clasped on her lap, she begins by thanking the public for their messages of support and understanding while she was recovering from surgery, before announcing her diagnosis.
“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and, at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful,” she said. “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 am now in the early stages of that treatment.”
Catherine’s statement emphasized the importance of her three children and their well-being as a key factor in the timing of the announcement. “As I have said to them,” she said, “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.”
The children’s school has now closed for the Easter holidays. A Kensington Palace official said Catherine and William had wanted to share the information when they felt it was right for them as a family.
Catherine ended her video statement with a message for other people affected by a cancer diagnosis. “At this time, I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer,” she said. “For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”
Doctors recognize familiar pattern in the princess’s statement.
Although it is not known what type of cancer Princess Catherine has, oncologists say that what she described in her public statement that was released on Friday — discovering a cancer during another procedure, in this case a “major abdominal surgery” — is all too common.
“Unfortunately, so much of the cancer we diagnose is unexpected,” said Dr. Elena Ratner, a gynecologic oncologist at Yale Cancer Center who has diagnosed many patients with ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and cancers of the lining of the uterus.
Without speculating on Catherine’s procedure, Dr. Ratner described situations in which women will go in for surgery for endometriosis, a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found elsewhere in the abdomen. Often, Dr. Ratner says, the assumption is that the endometriosis has appeared on an ovary and caused a benign ovarian cyst. But one to two weeks later, when the supposedly benign tissue has been studied, pathologists report that they found cancer.
In the statement, Princess Catherine said she was is getting “a course of preventive chemotherapy.”
That, too, is common. In medical settings, it is usually called adjuvant chemotherapy.
Dr. Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center, said that with adjuvant chemotherapy, “the hope is that this will prevent further problems” and avoid a recurrence of the cancer.
It also means that “you removed everything” that was visible with surgery, said Dr. Michael Birrer, director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “You can’t see the cancer,” he added, because microscopic cancer cells may be left behind. The chemotherapy is a way to attack microscopic disease, he explained.
Other parts of Catherine’s statement also hit home for Dr. Ratner, particularly her concern for her family.
“William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” Catherine said, and “It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte, and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”
Those are sentiments that Dr. Ratner hears on a regular basis and reveal, she says, “how hard it is for women to be diagnosed with cancer.”
“I see this day in and day out,” she said. “Women always say, ‘Will I be there for my kids? What will happen with my kids?’
“They don’t say, ‘What will happen to me?’”
Another heavy blow for the British royal family.
For the royal family, the news of a cancer diagnosis for Catherine, Princess of Wales, was another heavy blow, sidelining one of its most visible figures at a time when its ranks were already depleted.
In addition to King Charles III, who has canceled public appearances to undergo his own cancer treatment, the family has been adjusting to the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022; the departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan; and the exile of Prince Andrew, disgraced by his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Harry and Meghan issued a statement saying they wished “health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”
Since Harry and Meghan, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, withdrew from royal duties in 2020 and left Britain for Southern California, Harry has been estranged from his father, Charles, and his brother, Prince William. He visited his father briefly after Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis in February.
The palace said on Friday that Charles was “so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did.” Noting that the king had visited her when they were both being treated in a London hospital, the palace said Charles “has remained in the closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law throughout the past weeks.”
Buckingham Palace said only last month that King Charles has cancer.
King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer in early February and suspended his public engagements to undergo treatment, casting a shadow over a busy reign that began around 18 months ago after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The announcement, made by Buckingham Palace, came after the 75-year-old sovereign was discharged from a London hospital, following a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate.
The palace did not disclose what form of cancer Charles has, but a palace official said it was not prostate cancer. Doctors detected the cancer during that procedure, and the king began treatment on Monday.
News of Charles’ diagnosis ever since has reverberated through Britain, which, after seven decades of Elizabeth’s reign, has begun to get comfortable with her son. Charles waited longer to ascend the throne than anyone in the history of the British monarchy, and he was a familiar figure, with a personal life relentlessly dissected by the British media by the time he became the sovereign.