Skip to main content

Although they’re navigating the same disease, Kate Middleton and King Charles III aren’t reacting to cancer in the same way. A commentator says the two British royals have been “forced” to confront “what matters” and it’s different for both of them. 

Cancer has made King Charles and Kate ‘think about what matters’

Being diagnosed with cancer has put “what matters” at the front of Kate and the king’s minds, acccording to commentator Jack Royston. “I think it’s probably forced them to really think about what matters,” he told Sky News’ Wilfred Frost (via Newsweek). 

Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis in early February 2024, keeping the type and stage private. A month later, in March 2024, Kate revealed she, too, had been diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer and had started preventative chemotherapy. 

Fast-forward to late April 2024, and the king’s doctors are “sufficiently pleased” with the progress he’s made through treatment. So much so the 75-year-old monarch has been cleared to resume some public-facing duties he paused at the start of treatment. 

Kate remains out of the spotlight with no official updates on her health from Kensington Palace since her own announcement. There has sometimes been drama, from the edited Mother’s Day photo controversy to wild conspiracy theories online.

Cancer has given the king and Kate a different ‘focus’: work and family

Royston continued, saying the cancer diagnosis King Charles and Kate zeroing in on two different things, work and family. 

“In the case of Prince William and Kate, I think part of what’s mattered has been to really focus on them as a family,” he said. “That family time, their children, being there, slowing down and looking after themselves.”

Indeed, the main “focus” for the couple seems to be family. Kate remarked in her announcement video that telling Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, in an “appropriate” way had been a top priority for her and Prince William.

Since then, the Prince and Princess of Wales have been compared to Queen Elizabeth II for keeping family close. Most recently, the family of five spent the weeks following Kate’s announcement in Norfolk, England, at Anmer Hall. (Kate’s mom, Carole Middleton, came along.) 

As for the king, the diagnosis has underscored for him just how much he wants to “focus” on work. 

“In the king’s case,” Royston continued. “I mean, it’s caused him to focus on wanting to be king. He’s almost done the exact opposite [of Kate] in that faced with such a terrifying diagnosis, I think it’s really reminded him that what he actually wants to do is work.”

King Charles, 75, is known to be a workaholic, often working long hours. His nephew, Peter Phillips, shared the longer-than-expected recovery has “frustrated” the king.

King Charles has returned to public duties, Kate’s still recuperating at home 

On April 29, 2024, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ anniversary, King Charles attended his first public engagement in months. After 11 weeks of cancer treatment with limited official engagements, the monarch returned to public duties. He visited a cancer treatment center with Queen Camilla.

“He was so happy to be back. You could see the satisfaction was written all over his face. It is what he was literally born to do, after all,” a friend of the king’s told The Daily Beast. 

Another source said while it’s been “the hardest time of his life,” they predict the king, who perhaps became “exhausted” by the visit, was also “reinvigorated and fired up” by it. 

Following the visit, Charles went for a round of treatment—radiotherapy, per the outlet—for himself. 

Best in Entertainment