Royal Experts Weigh in on Princess Kate's Health Following a Difficult Year

Announcing that her cancer was in remission on January 14—almost one year to the day after undergoing the major abdominal surgery that detected the disease—Princess Kate took to Instagram to express her gratitude “to all those who have quietly walked alongside [Prince] William and me as we have navigated everything.”

Everything—just one word, but encompassing so very much. The Princess of Wales underwent surgery on January 16 of last year, and was diagnosed with cancer sometime before her March 22 video announcement where she announced her diagnosis (the type and stage of which will likely always remain unknown). In the video, Kate shared that her cancer diagnosis arrived as a “huge shock,” and that she was undergoing what she referred to as “preventative chemotherapy.”

In another video message, shared on September 9, she shared that she had completed her treatment, roughly six months after its beginnings. “The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family,” the future queen said in the video, filmed in the Norfolk countryside that she, William, and their kids Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, hold so dear. “Life as you know it can change in an instant, and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown.”

Like her father-in-law, King Charles III—who was diagnosed with cancer at almost the exact same time and whose cancer treatment is ongoing—Kate’s life was put into a new focus after her diagnosis. “The people I’ve spoken to say [her cancer] was serious, but she’s definitely on the level now and there’s no sign that it’s come back—touch wood—so far,” royal author Tom Quinn, author of 2025’s Yes Ma’am: Upstairs Downstairs in the British Royal Family, tells Harper’s Bazaar.

Largely away from royal duty for the majority of 2024—save for appearances here and there at major royal calendar staples like June’s Trooping the Colour, July’s Wimbledon, and November’s Remembrance events—Kate said in September she was “looking forward to being back at work,” yet also planning to “take each day as it comes.”

“This time has, above all, reminded William and me to reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted,” she said. “Of simply loving and being loved.” She added, “To all those who are continuing their own cancer journey—I remain with you, side by side, hand in hand. Out of darkness can come light—so let that light shine bright.”

Of the Princess of Wales, “It’s hard to imagine the monarchy surviving without her,” Christopher Andersen, author of numerous royal biographies including 2021’s Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan, tells Bazaar.

“The past few months have taken a tremendous emotional toll, especially on William, who has had to cope with the twin nightmares of both his father’s cancer and his wife’s cancer,” Andersen continues. “The way William handled the things—putting on a positive public face while filling in for his father—says an awful lot about the kind of king he will become.”

Not every member of the royal family could have handled that type of pressure, Andersen adds: “If faced with this sort of double whammy, there are other members of the royal family [who] would have crawled into bed and pulled the covers over their heads,” he says.

Since announcing that her cancer is in remission, Kate has appeared occasionally in the public eye, with more appearances predicted as 2025 rolls on. “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,” she wrote in January. “There is much to look forward to.”