The Prince of Wales has broken his social media silence for the first time since his wife Kate announced her shock cancer diagnosis.
Prince William, 41, paid tribute to England Lioness Rachel Daly as he shared a personal message this afternoon to the official Instagram account he shares with the Princess of Wales. The father-of-three, who is currently spending the Easter holidays with Kate and their children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, paid tribute to the footballer after she announced her retirement.
The family have kept a low profile in recent weeks as the Princess of Wales takes time to recover amid rounds of ‘preventative’ chemotherapy to stop the disease after it was discovered during major abdominal surgery earlier this year. The Prince, who has not been seen publicly since his wife’s announcement, is not expected to pick back up his public duties until his children return to school after the holidays.
In her address to the nation announcing she had been diagnosed with cancer, Kate revealed she and William had been ‘doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family’. She added that having William by her side had been a ‘great source of comfort and reassurance too’ , and she was going to ‘focus on making a full recovery’.
In an emotional video message at the end of March announcing the news, the future Queen said it had been an ‘incredibly tough couple of months’ for her family but she was ‘well and getting stronger every day’. She added: ‘My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.’ Kate’s last official royal engagement was the Christmas Day church service in Sandringham on December 25 – and there has been no set timeline for her return to public life so far.
The royal was at the centre of conspiracy theories that swirled around online which questioned her disappearance after having abdominal surgery, despite the palace stating that she needed time to recover from her operation at the start of the year. Speaking to PEOPLE, a former Palace aide said the level of interest in Kate’s health was a ‘complex reaction’.
They explained: ‘There was no malintent. But it unleashed a pent-up feeling that people wanted information – unfortunately, that’s the curse of being a modern royal.’ King Charles, 75, has also been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer after going for a procedure for an enlarged prostate at the same hospital as Kate in January.
At the start of February, Buckingham Palace went public with the news that he was diagnosed with a form of cancer, adding that it is not prostate cancer, but was discovered during his treatment. He has since praised his daughter-in-law for her courage in speaking about her condition. ‘His Majesty is ‘so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did’,’ Buckingham Palace said.
