Kate Middleton is now in remission from cancer.
The Princess of Wales shared the update on her official social media channels this morning.
“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain focussed on recovery,” she wrote in a lengthy post. “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal. I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead.”
This rare update came on the same day that she paid a surprise visit to the hospital where, we now find out, she received treatment: The Royal Marsden. (It has two locations; she visited the one in Chelsea today, not far from their offices at Kensington Palace, but their Surrey branch would be closer to their other home on the grounds of Windsor Castle.)
There’s a poignancy to the timing of today’s visit: It’s just two days short of the one-year anniversary of the major abdominal surgery that, as we understand, was supposed to be for a noncancerous condition but which ultimately revealed that “cancer had been present,” as Kate phrased it when she shared the news a few months — and an internet meltdown over her whereabouts — later.
At the time, she shared that she would be undergoing “preventative chemotherapy.” Later in the summer, she announced that she was finished with that treatment, but “my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.”
Along with sharing she is now in remission, Kate seems to have used today’s visit to the hospital to share a few more details about her experience with cancer.
“It’s really tough. It’s such a shock. Everyone said to me, ‘Please keep a positive mindset, it makes such a difference,’” she was heard telling a woman currently receiving chemotherapy. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” she told another.
She also gave a glimpse into how living through something like this can fundamentally change a person, with recovery continuing long after you’ve been given the all-clear.
“You think the treatment has finished and you can crack on and get back to normal, but that’s still a real challenge,” she said at one point in the visit. “The words totally disappear. And understanding that as a patient — yes, there are side effects around treatment, but actually there are more long-term side effects.”
These snatches of conversations — which, the nature of a visit with press following along being a sort of sanctioned eavesdropping, means she knew they’d be made public — are a fascinating continuation of the astonishing emotional vulnerability, ring-fenced by a fierce privacy about the physical specifics of her illness, that we’ve seen Kate display throughout this process.
“My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything,” she wrote in today’s post, which also announced that she’d be joining Prince William as the hospital’s patron. “We couldn’t have asked for more. The care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional.”
If this visit has been about anything, however, it does seem to be the drawing of a line under a chapter in her life. In going full circle, almost a year to the day that this all kicked off publicly, Kate seems to be signalling a fresh start.
As she writes herself: “There is much to look forward to.”
