Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince William and Prince Louis at Christmas 2023.Photo:Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty
Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty
King Charles, 75,Queen Camilla, 76, led a reduced gathering of the royal family for the Easter Mattins Service at St. George’s Chapel. The scaled-back attendance was a result of King Charles' ongoing cancer treatment, following his diagnosis earlier this year.
It’s understood that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children —Prince George, 10,Princess Charlotte, 8, andPrince Louis, 5 — are spending the weekend privately at home a little more than a week after Kate, 42, shared the news about her health.
On March 22, the Princess of Wales released a personal video message, sharing that she is undergoing chemotherapy after receiving a cancer diagnosis following herabdominal surgeryin January.
Princess Kate described the diagnosis as a “huge shock” and said she and Prince William took time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis.
King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Easter church service at Windsor Castle on March 31, 2024.Hollie Adams - WPA Pool/Getty
Hollie Adams - WPA Pool/Getty
“We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment, " the Princess of Wales said towards the end of her video message, in which she urged others navigating cancer to remember they are “not alone.”
Princess Kate may have alsostrategically waitedto make the public announcement about her health until her children were out of the classroom for Easter. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are currently on a half-term break from the Lambrook School and aren’t due back in the classroom until the middle of April. The school holiday creates space for the family to have private time together and for Kate to focus on her full recovery.
“She has the inner strength, the support of her husband and her extraordinary family, so she can focus on what’s important, which is her getting back to strength,” Ailsa Anderson, a former spokeswoman forQueen Elizabeth, tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’scover story.
Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Kate Middleton at the Together at Christmas concert at Westminster Abbey on December 8, 2023.Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty
Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty
Prince William and Princess Kate have only missed a few other royal Easter church outings since they wed in 2011. The royal couple marked the holiday in Australia during a royal tour there in 2014 and didn’t joinQueen Elizabethfor the trip to church the following year, one month before Princess Charlotte was born.
While the family spends Easter quietly and privately this year, King Charles led the royal family’s traditional trip to church at St. George’s Chapel. Buckingham Palaceconfirmed last weekthat the King, 75, and Queen, 76, would step out for the Easter service amid the monarch’s cancer treatment.
The update came after it emerged that King Charleshoped to attendthe holiday mass. The outing was expected to be pared down from past years to heed doctors’ advice that the King shouldlimit the number of peoplehe comes in contact with during his treatment. Buckingham Palace announced on Feb. 5 that the King wasdiagnosed with cancerfollowing surgery for a benign enlarged prostate and would postpone public-facing duties while receiving treatment.
King Charles arrives for Easter service at Windsor Castle on March 31, 2024.Samir Hussein/WireImage
Samir Hussein/WireImage
The type of cancer has not been disclosed, but a spokesman confirmed it is not prostate cancer.
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King Charles and Princess Kate’s bond may grow stronger as they both navigate cancer during the first time in the monarchy’s history that two senior royals are facing the diagnosis simultaneously.
“He has always had a very good bond with her. I don’t think it is presumptuous to say that she is like the daughter he never had,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smithtells PEOPLEexclusively in this week’s issue. “He shares with William an impulse to protect her. They are in this together, Kate and the King.”
source: people.com
