Kate Middleton, who has been almost entirely absent from royal duties this year due to a devastating cancer diagnosis, will continue to maintain a much lower profile than before, with less frequent public engagements even after her expected full recovery, sources tell The Daily Beast.
Sources say the Princess of Wales’ treatment for cancer is understood to be going well, but that her “brush with mortality” will lead her to focus on her family and children.
On a positive note, reports that Kate is intending to travel to Balmoral for the traditional royal summer vacation coincides with friends telling The Daily Beast that her ongoing treatment for cancer is progressing well.
It is thought the smaller Wales family are unlikely to travel this year to Tresco, a small island off the coast of Cornwall, where they have often spent summer holidays. However, The Daily Beast has been told that the couple are aiming to be in Balmoral either for the opening of the grouse-shooting season on Aug. 12 or shortly thereafter.
William and Kate both shoot.
One friend of the couple told The Daily Beast: “Kate has been exceptionally open and honest about her health. Making two appearances before the summer break, at Wimbledon and Trooping the Colour, was a clear signal that she is doing well. That is what we are hearing privately as well—it’s not over but there is lots of optimism, lots of positivity.”
The friend added that they understood Kate was still receiving chemotherapy for cancer which was found when she underwent abdominal surgery at the beginning of the year.
The friend said: “It is obviously still an incredibly worrying time but all the signs are that her cancer treatment, which is ongoing, is progressing well.”
Another source, a Buckingham Palace insider, said they understood there was no sense that Kate was expected to be back on duty for the traditionally busy period of royal engagements that kicks off in the first week of September and runs through to Christmas.
King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, and Lady Louise Windso on June 15, 2024.
Hollie Adams/Reuters
The source said: “There is still nothing in her diary. My understanding is that people are going to have to get used to seeing a lot less of Kate. The priority for her now is going to be family and the children. The youngest of those kids, Louis, is only 6.
“Like a lot of people who have a brush with mortality, Kate is going to prioritize the things that matter to her from now on. In her case, that means her kids.”
The source added that ongoing concerns around King Charles’ health were also likely to have shaped her new attitude, saying: “Charles is doing a magnificent job fighting his cancer but he is still unwell. It is being fantastically well managed to give the impression that everything is fine, but it is noticeable to those of us who are aware of such things that the engagements are shorter and carefully scheduled; for example he sometimes arrives by helicopter at the last minute before being choppered away and presumably collapsing in an armchair at home.
“Charles’ cancer hasn’t gone away, the palace have said as much, and to be brutally honest, the once-popular notion that he will live to a similar age as his mother [94] or father [99] is now less widespread. I think that has very much focused Kate’s mind on the fact that there may only be a few years of freedom left. What does she want to do with them? Nurture her kids and try her best to equip them for the life ahead of them.”
Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.
Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty
Another friend of the wider family told The Daily Beast that the royals were expected to descend on Balmoral en masse for the opening of the grouse-shooting season on Aug. 12, known colloquially as the “Glorious Twelfth.”
The friend said: “Balmoral is basically a very fancy Victorian hunting lodge. That is what you do up there: You go out shooting, you fish, and you have lunch in the hut. It is an important ritual for Kate and William to take their children there for the Glorious Twelfth and that is the goal this year.”
Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace responded to requests for comment on the family’s summer plans re Balmoral, or the state of either Kate or Charles’ health. Courtiers have, however, consistently said they will not provide regular updates on the health and recovery of Charles and Kate.
In an unprecedented statement in June, Kate said she was “not out of the woods yet” and had “good days and bad days.”
She said at that time that her treatment would continue for “a few more months.”
