A revealing new royal biography, Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen, by Christopher Anderson, details how the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, initially fought hard to keep her cancer diagnosis out of the spotlight in 2024 – and the heartbreaking conversation she had with her three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, during which she broke the news of her health issues.
The book details how the Princess desperately wanted to wait until the children were on an Easter break from school before sitting them down and telling them the situation, described as the "hardest thing of all" and more emotionally charged than the operation or chemotherapy the Princess required.
It describes how she and Prince William drove to collect the children from school on their final day of term, and how the Princess dreaded the journey home. It claims she provided the children with one of their favourite sweet treats – chocolate brownies from Gail's Bakery in London – and gathered the family around the kitchen table.
Anderson reports in his book that the Princess delicately raised the subject by explaining how much better she felt since coming out of hospital and that she was looking forward to having fun with them during their two-week break from school, but that she would still sometimes need to rest, as doctors had found a few tiny cancer cells.
The cells, Kate explained, would need to be treated by special medicine and it was this that could make her feel tired.
Prior to sharing her diagnosis with the public, rumours were ablaze across social media (which the new book in part claims were fuelled by a Russian disinformation campaign, known as Doppelgänger).
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After weeks of questioning her absence, dubbed 'Kategate', the Princess posted a moving video on social media on 22 March 2024. During the footage, she referenced her children and the need for privacy: "William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time.
"It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment, but most importantly it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate and to reassure them that I'm going to be okay."
