For much of 2024, the Princess of Wales stepped back from royal duties while undergoing treatment. After completing chemotherapy, she later described the experience as an “incredibly tough” time.
When the Diagnosis Was First Revealed
Kate first went public with her diagnosis in a personal video message on March 22, 2024, weeks after undergoing abdominal surgery in January. Before that, her absence from public life since Christmas Day 2023 had sparked widespread concern and speculation.
In her message, she expressed gratitude to those who supported her, saying: “I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, personally, for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I have 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 am so grateful.”
She explained that the surgery had initially been believed to address a non-cancerous condition: “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.