The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, marked World Cancer Day with a new photograph taken by her youngest son, Prince Louis. "Don't forget to nurture everything that lies beyond the disease," the future queen declared in an Instagram post, referencing her own cancer battle last year.
The photograph shows Kate with her arms open in the forest, smiling, and was taken in recent weeks around Windsor Castle, where the Prince and Princess of Wales live with their three children: George, 12, Charlotte, 9, and Louis, 6. The youngest is set to follow in his mother's footsteps, whose passion for photography is well-known.
Kensington Palace told the BBC that the photograph aims to reflect how nature was important to the princess during her recovery from preventive chemotherapy she underwent last year for an unspecified form of cancer.
In January, Kate announced that the cancer is in remission, after making the end of her chemotherapy public in September. "The cancer journey is complex, frightening and unpredictable for everyone, especially for those closest to us," she declared at the time.
During a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital's chemotherapy ward in London, where she also received treatment, Prince William's wife spoke to other patients about her personal journey, confessing that the impact of cancer on her family had been "very, very hard" and that recovery was still a long road. "You think the treatment is over and you can move on and get back to normal, but it continues to be a real challenge."
The diagnosis was shared on March 22, 2024, with a video where Kate recounted that cancer had been discovered during a scheduled abdominal surgery - a month after Charles III also announced a similar cancer diagnosis.
Without giving many details about the disease and asking for privacy for the family, the princess was absent for almost all of 2024 for treatment and only appeared publicly at the traditional Trooping the Colour parade in June. At the end of the year, she organized the Christmas concert at Westminster Abbey.
Now she is slowly returning to the royal family routine and has made it known that she also intends to dedicate herself to supporting cancer patients. Thus, Kensington Palace also announced this week that it will no longer disclose details about what the princess wears at public engagements, shifting the focus from fashion to Kate's actions.
"There is an absolute feeling that [public work] is not about what the princess is wearing. She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, on the people and the causes she is highlighting. There will always be an interest in what the princess wears from some of the public and she understands that. But do we really need to be officially saying what she's wearing all the time? No," the Prince and Princess of Wales' office declared in a statement to The Times.
Henceforth, the Palace will only provide details when it comes to important pieces, such as tiaras or jewels, worn at state banquets. What Kate wears will still be scrutinized in the tabloid press and there are even pages on social media dedicated to her style. The princess is known for supporting British brands and her personal intervention has already helped designers become known, such as Sarah Burton, who designed her wedding dress.