Kate Middleton broke the news about cancer in her time.
The Princess of Wales, 42, has not been in public since Christmas as she recovers from abdominal surgery in January. Despite Kensington Palace announcing that she is not expected to return to public duties until “after Easter”, conspiracy theories and rumors about her health and whereabouts have circulated online. The gossip was further fueled by Prince William’s last-minute withdrawal from a memorial service honoring his late godfather due to a personal matter on February 27 and a photo of Princess Kate with her children for Mother’s Day in the UK published on March 10 that was withdrawn due to suspected manipulation.
Despite trolls claiming everything from Kate using a body double when a video surfaced of the Prince and Princess of Wales at a Windsor farm shop to other cases of photo manipulation, online rumors have not fueled the royal’s decision to speak out about her cancer treatment.
Sources point out that it was Princess Kate’s personal choice when to share the information publicly, at a time that was right for her, Prince William and their three children. Those close to the family say every decision they made was to protect Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at this difficult time.
Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte at Trooping the Color 2023.
Chris Jackson/Getty
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The Princess of Wales may have chosen Friday to publicly announce her health news as it was the first day of her children’s Easter school break. Since George, 10, Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 5, don’t return to the classroom until mid-April, the family will have the next few weeks together to deal with it privately.
Tessy Ojo, executive director of the Diana Award who has worked with Prince William on cyberbullying initiatives and recently attended the March 14 event with him, tells PEOPLE, “It makes it even sadder because it happened against the backdrop of all the conspiracy theories of the past few weeks . It reinforces the danger of the society we live in where rumors pick up and almost become false reality.”
Praising the couple’s decision to wait until George, Charlotte and Louis go on school holidays, Ojo says William “understands the power of the internet, which can be quite destructive, especially for young children. I know he has the tools to protect children, especially Prince George. I can to rely on as a family without outside noise. She has a great family and I don’t care.”
She adds: “I would like the public to learn something from this and make people stop and think. When you think about it, being public figures, we have every right to know the ins and outs and everything. I hope this teaches us something as a public, that people should respect privacy and that people have private lives and that we don’t have to know everything. The least we can do is show kindness.”
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Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Kate Middleton at the Westminster Abbey Christmas Concert on December 8, 2023.
Aaron Chown – WPA collection/Getty
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Kate directly addressed the impact of news of her health on her family in a personal video message she posted on Friday. She said: “William and I have been doing everything we can to process and resolve this privately for the sake of our young family.”
“As you can imagine, this took time. It took me time to recover from major surgery to start treatment. But most importantly, we took time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that was appropriate. for them and to reassure them that I will be fine,” she said. “Like I told them, I’m fine and I’m getting stronger every day by focusing on things that will help me heal, in my mind, body and spirit.”
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The royal mom also had Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in mind when Kensington Palace first announced she had undergone abdominal surgery in a statement released on January 17.
“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate. She hopes the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality as possible for her children; and her desire to keep her personal medical information private,” they said.
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Source: HIS Education