LONDON (AP) — Catherine, Princess of Wales, said Friday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Her condition was disclosed in a video message recorded on Wednesday and broadcast Friday, coming after weeks of speculation on social media about her whereabouts and health since she was hospitalized in January for unspecified abdominal surgery.
Watch her video message:
A message from Catherine, The Princess of Wales pic.twitter.com/5LQT1qGarK
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2024
She asked for “time, space and privacy” while she is treated for an unspecified type of cancer.
“I am well,” she said. “I am getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal.”
Catherine, 42, née Kate Middleton, hadn’t been seen publicly since Christmas until video surfaced this week of her with her husband, Prince William, heir to the throne, walking from a farm shop near their Windsor home.
From left to right: Princess Catherine and Prince William accompany their children (from left to right: George, Louis, and Charlotte) to school on September 7, 2022, in Bracknell, England. (Jonathan Brady/Getty Images)
Kensington Palace had given little detail about Catherine’s condition beyond saying it wasn’t cancer-related, the surgery was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April.
The news is another shock for the royal family since the announcement last month that King Charles III was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer that was caught while undergoing a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.
