Princess Catherine announces she is ‘cancer free’

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Catherine, Princess of Wales, on Monday said she was “cancer free” and looking forward to undertaking “a few” public engagements after six months of chemotherapy.

The announcement, which was accompanied by an elaborate video of the princess with her husband, Prince William, and three children is a welcome piece of good news for the UK royal family.

King Charles, the princess’s father-in-law, announced he was receiving cancer treatment in February, shortly before she said she was in the early stages of a course of preventive chemotherapy.

Neither has specified the nature of their cancer.

The princess said it was a “relief” to have finished her treatment but stressed she would not be carrying out a full schedule of engagements for the time being.

“The cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you,” she said. “Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus.”

Her path to healing and full recovery would be long, the princess added.

“I must continue to take each day as it comes,” she said. “I am however looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.”

The personal statement and soft-focus video are part of the princess’s distinctive approach to communicating about her illness, in which she has preferred to voice her own statements and issue videos.

The royal family has in the past tended to issue only minimal information about family members’ health, via formal written statements.

The princess had been receiving “preventive” chemotherapy since February, after a cancer was discovered during what Kensington Palace, her official residence, called “major abdominal surgery”.

There was controversy in March when the princess issued a Mother’s Day message, before she had announced she had cancer, with a photograph she had digitally altered herself.

Several international picture agencies withdrew the picture after it became clear it had been modified. The princess subsequently apologised.

“Despite all that has gone before, I enter this new phase of recovery with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life,” the princess said in Monday’s statement.

It is not clear when the princess’s chemotherapy concluded, although Kensington Palace said the video was filmed last month in Norfolk.

As Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Princess Catherine are first in the line of succession to the throne after King Charles, 75.

The king resumed some public duties in April but has given no official update since on the progress of his treatment.