Kate Middleton cancer diagnosis one year on: Princess of Wales enters a new era, one where traditional roles are being shattered | How Kate has become more relaxed, more relatable and more focused like Princess Diana after divorce from Charles | Opinion

Few people would argue that the Princess of Wales has been the shining star of the British royal family for many years now, her story from commoner to future queen one for the ages and inspiring unprecedented interest in an institution dating back 1000 years.

But it’s how Catherine has carried herself in the past 12 months that will go on to define her place in history.

It was one year ago today that Catherine sat, alone, on a bench in the gardens of her Windsor home and told the world she had been diagnosed with cancer.

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Emotional and looking weary, but with a quiet determination, Kate spoke honestly about her fears for the future and what her diagnosis meant for her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The diagnosis came less than two months after she had planned abdominal surgery at the London Clinic, with doctors later recommending preventative chemotherapy after tests revealed cancer had been present.

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”It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK,” Kate said in her video.

“As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day.”

To add to the misery Prince William and Kate were experiencing in those first few months of 2024 were the “crazy conspiracy theory stuff” that had emerged online, sparked by questions over the princess’s whereabouts.

That’s how the couple’s former press secretary Jason Knauf described the situation before Kensington Palace released the video with Kate’s message.

The reason the palace took so long to shut down the rumour mill about why the Princess of Wales had retreated from the public (even though in a January statement, the palace said she would be taking an extended period of leave) was William and Kate’s children.

“They didn’t want to say yet that she had cancer because they hadn’t told the children and they’re still working through how to tell the children,” Knauf told Nine’s 60 Minutes in February.

Knauf described the phone call between him and William, when he first learned of Kate’s diagnosis, as “awful, absolutely awful. It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him”.

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William, while in Cape Town for the Earthshot Prize in November, was asked how the past year had been for him personally, with both his wife and father King Charles having received cancer diagnoses.

“Honestly? It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life,” the Prince of Wales answered.

In September, there was positive news from the Princess of Wales.

In her second deeply personal message of the year, but this time surrounded by her husband and children, Kate confirmed she had finished chemotherapy and was now “doing what I can to stay cancer free”.

Kate said she had entered “a new phase of recovery” and that her illness had given her a “new perspective on everything”.

The three-minute video, filmed within surrounds of the Wales’ private home in Norfolk, was Kate once again but this time revealing to the world a very different side of her.

The update was unprecedented for showing the future king and queen, and their children, at their most intimate and marked a new direction and approach to public information from the usually-reserved couple who had always fiercely guarded their privacy.

It’s amazing what difference a year can make and all the changes that can come from the passing of time.

On January 14, Kate visited the London hospital where she had received her chemotherapy treatment in private, hours later confirming that she was now in remission.

It was the princess’s first solo engagement of 2025 and marked the beginning of a new direction in her royal career, defying expectations.

Months earlier Kate said she was “looking forward to undertaking a few more public engagements” but no-one thought she would be back at a near-regular schedule of events so soon.

Already, Kate has carried out eight official engagements in public, the most high-profile being Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey on March 10 with the King who was also forced to miss last year’s service due to his own cancer treatment.

This week Kate was back at the St Patrick’s Day parade in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards, an event royal watchers have become familiar with thanks to her involvement since 2011.

That Kate has chosen to take on so many engagements now is a clear indication of just how well she is feeling.

Her cancer journey was a life-altering experience, as anyone who has experienced something similar would attest.

The Princess of Wales has entered a new era in her life, one where traditional royal roles are being shattered making way for a more relaxed, more relatable and more focused Kate.

It was no coincidence she made young children the focus of one of her first engagements of the year, when she rode a minibus with five-year-olds to the National Portrait Gallery.

The engagement was in support of Kate’s Early Years childhood project which will define her royal legacy in the decades to come.

But this new period of her life will, too, be one that defines the Princess of Wales, much like how Diana reclaimed her identity following her divorce from Charles.

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While under very different circumstances, there are similarities in how both women took back their power and rewrote their narrative.

The late Diana, Princess of Wales, was able to use her post-divorce career to focus more on the charitable work that she had really loved, cutting her commitments from around 100 to just six organisations she was most passionate about.

Diana’s fashion was different: she had a new style that reflected her newfound confidence and freedom from the royal family.

Her personality, too, reflected Diana’s new outlook on life. As author Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicles, “Diana never looked better than in the days after her divorce. Divestment was the name of the game, in her life and in her looks”.

Looking at Kate on Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey, wearing a bold red Catherine Walker outfit, the Princess of Wales was the picture of confidence.

Her signature hair looked glossier than ever, her royal jewels sparkling in the London sun. Inside, Kate and William were beaming as they talked animatedly with one another, and leaning in to whisper quietly together at times during the ceremony.

In late February, the couple allowed Kensington Palace to share a video – filmed from behind – showing them walking hand-in-hand at a train station on the way to Wales. It was yet another break from tradition, William and Kate now openly showing their love and affection for each other.

On St Patrick’s Day the Princess of Wales was smiling and laughing with soldiers and their families, telling of her hopes for a new royal tour, possibly “further afield” as Australia.

Speaking to an Australian reservist, Kate said there were “so many opportunities now to travel” and that it’s about “making sure that you can combine a bit of work with the children”.

A gruelling royal tour to a destination involving a long flight is the ultimate test of endurance, as King Charles showed in October when he and Queen Camilla visited Sydney and Canberra.

The tour was later described by a Buckingham Palace spokesperson as the “perfect tonic” to the monarch’s recent health troubles.

That Kate is speaking about the possibility of a big royal tour should be seen as a promising sign of things to come, particularly with she and William being the future of the royal family.

But Prince William and Kate’s time on the throne is looking closer than ever due to the King’s age and his health. While the monarch is carrying out a full program of events, with a tour of Italy scheduled for April, he is still undergoing treatment for cancer.

As ITV’s royal editor Chris Ship told 9honey in late 2024: “Suddenly the throne that they always knew was coming their way – in fact, I should say thrones because it will be a King and a Queen in the case of William and Kate – suddenly it looks a lot closer than it did before.

”We don’t know the diagnosis or the prognosis of King Charles’ cancer. But for William and Kate, that throne looks a lot closer than it did, say, a year ago.”

One year ago, Kate shocked the world with her cancer diagnosis but thankfully 12 months on, the Princess of Wales is back where she should be: at the heart of the royal family, her star now shining brighter than ever.

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