Catherine, Princess of Wales,
just revealing
that she has been diagnosed with cancer
and that she is
in the early stages of treatment.
The 42 year old just shared her diagnosis
in a video message
that lasts about 2 minutes.
I want to show that to you now.
I want to take this opportunity
to say thank you personally
for all the wonderful messages of support
and for your understanding.
Whilst I've been recovering from surgery.
It has been an incredibly tough
couple of months for our entire family.
But I've had a fantastic medical team,
have taken great care of me,
for which I'm so grateful.
In January I underwent major
domino surgery in London,
and at the time
it was thought that my
condition was non-cancerous.
The surgery was successful,
however, tests
after the operation on cancer
had been present.
My medical team therefore advised
that I should undergo a course
of preventative chemotherapy
and I'm
now in the early stages
of that treatment.
This, of course, came as a huge shock,
and William and I have been doing
everything we can
to process and manage
this privately
for the sake of our young family.
As you can imagine, this has taken time.
It has taken me time
to recover from major surgery
in order to start my treatment.
But most importantly,
it has taken us time
to explain everything
to George, Charlotte and Louis
in a way that's appropriate for them
and to reassure them
that I'm going to be okay.
As I've said to them, I am well
and getting stronger every day
by focusing on the things
that will help me here in my mind.
Body and spirits.
Having William by
my side is
a great source of comfort
and reassurance to,
as I said,
love, support and kindness
that has been shown by so many of you.
It means so much to us both.
They hope that you will understand
that as a family,
we now need some time, space and privacy
while I complete my treatment.
My work has always brought me a deep
sense of joy
and I look forward
to being back when I'm able.
But for now,
I must focus on making a full recovery
at this time.
I'm also thinking
of all those whose lives
have been affected by cancer.
For everyone facing this disease
in whatever form,
please do not lose faith or hide.
You are not alone.
One of the right decisions.
Royal correspondent Max Foster.
Max, I know you've been hearing more
over the course of this hour.
What is the latest?
It's interesting you watch that video.
You know,
this is a big thing for anyone to do, but
it isn't always comfortable
in the comments and things like that.
And that was a big set for her
and very powerful.
And she would have made that decision.
She would have had to sign off on it.
I want to do it in this way.
I want to do it on my own.
I don't need Prince William in this.
I need to own this.
So I think that would have taken
a lot of building
up to another explanation
for why
we haven't seen much of her recently.
But we've just heard
from Buckingham Palace.
The spokesman
just sent me a note about the king
from the king.
So His majesty is so proud of Catherine
for her courage in speaking as she did
following her time in hospital together.
His Majesty has remained
in the closest contact with his beloved
daughter in
law throughout the past weeks.
Both Their Majesties will continue
to offer their love and support
to the whole family
through this difficult time.
I think it was quite a unique experience,
wasn't it, for Kate
and Charles to be in hospital together
and having
pretty similar experiences
going into one procedure
and coming out
with a completely different diagnosis.
But he's very much,
you know, looking at that video
she put out today
and really paying tribute to her
and the way she speaks of the children.
And clearly he feels that
she's getting all of her priorities
right there Anderson.
You know, Max, it's so interesting.
You know,
there has been so much, obviously
consternation and,
you know, conspiracy theories
about about Katherine
over the last two weeks or more.
It's in a moment like this
when you really see
you know,
this family
that so many people see from afar
and see on balconies
and riding around in carriages
and big celebrations, you see that
them very much as human
and very much as as mortal.
And, you know,
she is a young woman
sitting on this bench
telling the world
this extremely personal diagnosis.
Yeah.
I mean, I
think this is
part of the shock, isn't it?
Because
you do realize they are vulnerable
like everyone else.
But the,
you know, projected as this brand,
which is sort of invincible in a way.
It's been around for a thousand years.
And we're so used to the queen
being around for so long.
And shortly after King takes the throne,
we find like he's got cancer.
And the thing about Kate, she's this,
you know, this vision of vibrancy.
She's very sporty,
she's very energetic, she's very dutiful.
You know, she's,
you know,
a fantastic
mum from everything that
I've seen really hands on.
And it's
I think it's a shock,
you know, in the book,
you know,
when we heard that the queen was ill,
that was a shock,
even though she was so old.
But it's just
this vulnerability,
someone that's in your life,
you don't know them personally,
but they've been part of your life
for so long and they might not be there.
And then you kind of figure out,
you know what,
if Charles and Kate weren't there, It's
that sort of processing.
So I think it is very personal
for a lot of people.
And as Kate spoke to in her video,
I think about other people
who've suffered cancer.
This is something I really saw
when the queen died that,
you know,
people connected with that moment because
through people
who've died in their own lives,
and I think people now will be thinking
people who've suffered from cancer
in their own lives and,
you know, look at Kate's,
someone that's
vulnerable to that,
someone you wouldn't expect
to be vulnerable to any sort of illness.
It's just this vision of vibrancy.
So, I mean, you know, let's set up
and as far as I'm concerned
about the distasteful, upsetting
conspiracy theories that boiled up
in recent times,
they now have a reason
for why we didn't see them.
Interesting.
But pretty much
the only thing I didn't see
online in recent weeks
was speculation
that she could have cancer.
But I think everyone
needs to step back a bit
and really think about
not just what they're putting online,
what they're consuming online, and,
you know,
just sticking to the facts on CNN.
You know, we've had lots of discussions
about this.
You know,
we want people to get the facts.
And this is an incredibly hard story
to tell
because there have been so few facts,
but now we know why
we weren't being given information.
I think it's understandable
that you'd want to protect your kids,
frankly. It's such a just a sad,
sad turn in in this.
And obviously,
I mean, people around
the world are going to be watching
and praying for for Katherine.
It was heartbreaking to hear.
It was also painful to watch, I think.
But for me,
the strength that she showed,
as Max was saying,
the decision to present
what was going on in this manner
to be on her own,
because Prince William
could have been next
to her supporting her,
and she chose to do it on her own.
She somehow managed to combine Regal
with vulnerable
in a way that she does so well.
I'm just as human.
I think, for anybody watching
and I know you showed that video,
that moment
when she described the huge shock
and we know when you're nervous
and your throat goes and your voice goes.
And the moment
she took that inhalation to say it,
she was controlling her emotions
in that video. So I find it
quite
emotional to watch the
strength that she showed there.
But also
and I think this explains
a lot of what has been speculated
over of what we've discussed
in the past few weeks
is that the children came first.
They were in school.
She chose not clearly
to take them out of school in some way
and to keep their lives
as regular
as they could throughout this process.
And now they've broken up for a holiday
and they can deal with it themselves.
This will send
and has sent a sort of global bombshell
around the world.
Now, the kids
don't have to face the questions
because we know what children are like.
They can ask the question again.
It's also just a reminder of the
just the kind of humanness of,
you know, there existence
that they're worried about
what other kids in school
will be saying
to their children in school.
They're in school.
It's a fairy tale family in so many ways.
There are royal family.
She's so regal, she's so perfect.
But in the end,
they are five people
and there are three
very vulnerable children in this,
and they pick their time.
I think, very carefully.
I think
what's also so deeply
heartbreaking about this is,
as Max has said,
what they've been through
with all the wild speculation and the
the sort of traumas and the criticism
and the photographs and things.
And actually what it was was
a woman
dealing with
what is clearly traumatic surgery
and now recovery and then chemotherapy.
I mean, for anybody.
And it's most of us
whose lives
have been touched in some way by cancer,
what this very royal
but also very human family is going
through is
a big challenge and they need the space
now, is she asked for.
But I will say one more thing
again, coming back to being a princess
at the end where she said
and you repeated the line,
you're not alone
if you're out there
also suffering with cancer,
you know you're not alone,
princess, too.
The beginning and the end there, I think.
Well said.