Kate pops back into the public eye
The Princess of Wales will attend tomorrow's Trooping the Colour but terms and conditions apply to her return
She’s back. Sorta.
For three months, the world has waited for an update on the health of Kate, Princess of Wales. Aside from the occasional anodyne answer from a royals — Prince William told D-Day veterans that she’s “getting better” — there was utter silence from royal staff. Then, at 6 p.m. London time today, came an email from Kensington Palace with the title, “An Update on The Princess of Wales.”
Gulp. The last such late-in-the-day email from Kensington Palace was on March 22, announcing that she’d started preventive chemotherapy.
This time, the news was much better.
Kate began her personal message by thanking everyone who had sent her good wishes. Then she explained that she’ll be continuing her treatment for “a few more months” and said that she had good days and bad days, like everyone undergoing chemo.
Only after laying the ground rules, did she give everyone a spoonful of good news, announcing that she is “looking forward to attending King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer.”
The announcement included a photo of her leaning against a giant willow tree that was taken this week at Windsor by Matt Porteous, a photographer long favoured by the royals.
She looked just like the Kate of old, the one we haven’t seen in public since Christmas Day. Gone was the make-up free visage of her March cancer video. Instead, her hair and face were perfectly made up, with only her casual and comfortable sports shoes an indication that she hadn’t just come from a public engagement.
Now, we’ll all see her tomorrow at Trooping the Colour, the military parade that marks the sovereign’s official birthday. Her father-in-law was thrilled: “His Majesty is delighted that the Princess is able to attend tomorrow’s events and is very much looking forward to all elements of the day.”
Still, she and the palace sought to temper expectations and put her appearance at that one high-profile event into perspective. “My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months,” the Princess of Wales stated. So while she hopes to attend some engagements in coming months — perhaps Wimbledon, which she loves — she emphasized that “I am not out of the woods yet. I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
So while King Charles III has restarted his public duties, albeit it at a reduced pace from his normally packed schedule, while still undergoing treatment for his own cancer, his daughter-in-law is making it clear her appearance with her children at Trooping the Colour (including a balcony appearance) is very much the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end of her cancer treatment.
Her appearance at this year’s Trooping the Colour will be a departure from that of 2023. Yes, she’s expected to travel with her three children by carriage to Horse Guards Parade, but she won’t be taking part in Trooping itself. Though she’s colonel of the Irish Guards, the regiment whose Colours are being paraded this year, the salute will be taken on her behalf by Lt.-Gen. James Bucknall. And she’s not expected to sit during the entire event on the formal dais in front of the troops, but will rather watch it with her family from the relative privacy and comfort of the Major General’s Office (which overlooks the parade square).
How much we’ll actually see of Kate will depend on the weather. The forecast isn’t great, with the BBC expecting that it could be around 14 C with a 44% chance of rain at 11 a.m., when the King and Queen Camilla enter the parade ground in their own horse-drawn conveyance.
If there is any guidance that can be given to those impatient to see the Princess of Wales return to her usual public schedule, it’s a reminder that every patient reacts differently to chemotherapy, and there are many different types of chemo, each of which can affect a patient differently. Bottom line: she’s listening to her medical team, not social media.
So while she’s begun to work from home a little and has attended a few meetings, there’s no set timeline. In other words, be patient.
Full disclosure: earlier this week, I said that I didn’t think she’d appear at Trooping — it felt like too public an event and I wondered if her reappearance would overshadow the King on his official birthday. It’s nice to be wrong.