Kate Middleton ‘Battling Much More Than Cancer’: Commentator
Kate Middleton is “battling much more than cancer,” claims a royal commentator. They argue that the Princess of Wales has not only treatment and recovery to deal with, but also, a “radically altered future.”
Kate Middleton’s fight is reportedly bigger than cancer
Daniela Elser of News.com.au discussed Kate Middleton’s fight against cancer. She believes there is more at stake in Kate’s future than just fighting and winning her battle against the disease.
Elser cited a New York Times opinion piece written by Tina Brown. She is the author of The Diana Chronicles and The Palace Papers.
Brown believes that Kate Middleton is “battling much more than cancer. She may have to deal with the ramifications of King Charles’ health woes, too.
“Catherine is battling more — much more — than cancer,” she writes.
“A tidal wave of premature responsibility is crashing in her and William’s direction. Frozen, unready, and with Catherine now seriously unwell, the Prince and Princess of Wales await the awesome burden of the crown.”
Elser agrees with Brown’s assessment. She writes, “It defies imagination to think about what the Princess of Wales must be going through right now. The deeply personal, emotional convulsions as the couple face the possibility of a radically altered future bearing down on them.”
“This was not how it was meant to be. In 2011, when William and Kate married, and the UK’s party sausage roll industry reveled in record sales, the couple’s ascension to the top jobs seemed assuredly to be something decades and decades off, so remote a prospect it could barely be glimpsed on the horizon,” she assessed.
The added burden of King Charles’ recovery plays into Kate Middleton’s royal future
In February 2024, King Charles announced he had cancer. It was discovered upon a hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, where a separate issue of concern was noted.
Just one month later, in March, Kate Middleton, hospitalized at the same time as her father-in-law, also revealed she had cancer. The news of her Charles’ cancer, along with her own, likely has Kate confronting the “possibility” of a “dramatically, profoundly altered reality,” Daniela Elser writes.
She continues, “[Prince William and Kate], the world and you would have to think the Waleses themselves assumed, would serve a lengthy apprenticeship, in the same model as Charles, having masses of lovely time to learn ropes, get the hang of things and gradually mentally acclimatize to being King and Queen. That equation has now been chucked out of a Buckingham Palace top-floor window.”
Kate Middleton and Prince William face their royal destiny
Both Daniela Elser and Tina Brown’s assessments come down to one thing. The royal family is under crisis, but how much is rooted in today, and how much awaits them in the future?
Brown and Elser discussed how King Charles had a lengthy period, more than 50 years, to prepare himself for the throne. Elser notes that even Camilla, Queen Consort, had 17 years to “grasp and accept what lay ahead for her husband and, by implication, her too.”
In turn, news of King Charles’ cancer shines a harsh light on the current state of a slimmed-down monarchy. The 75-year-old’s health makes royal watchers acutely aware there’s a rush to prepare William and Kate for the throne.
However, this pressure could be too much for the Princess of Wales. Elser writes, “The question I keep thinking about is, how much can one woman, even one as foible-free as Kate, actually take before things snap and break?”
Kate Middleton and Prince William are spending spring break with their three children as Kate continues to undergo cancer treatment. King Charles’ cancer is also ongoing.
