“It has been a great relief that she is tolerating the medication and is actually doing a lot better,” a family friend tells Vanity Fair of the royal, who is undergoing a course of preventative chemotherapy.
Following reports that Kate Middleton has been seen out and about with her family in recent days, speculation has turned to when the princess will return to official engagements.
Reports claiming that Princess Kate is unlikely to be back at work until next year are inaccurate, sources tell Vanity Fair, and while the Daily Mail has reported that Kate could be back as soon as this autumn, no official return date has been planned.
VF has been told that Kate is in no hurry to return to work, with her focus being entirely on her recovery. According to one well-placed source, “There is no timeline, and there is certainly no hurry. It will be when Catherine feels ready and when she gets the greenlight from her medical team. But she will 100% be coming back to work, of that there is no question.”
While she has suspended all work-related duties, Kate has been kept abreast of the landmark report published last week by the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and its related business task force, with an aide previously revealing that she’d read the report and been briefed on it. However, a Kensington Palace spokesman stressed that the news should not be viewed as an example of her returning to work.
A senior royal aide told the Daily Mail: “The Princess of Wales was the driving force behind the business task force. She has been kept up to date since the inception of the task force, and she has read the report and been briefed on it.
“This is a clear commitment she has made—that throughout her life of public service…this will be [the] focus. That will continue when she returns to work.
“But we have been really clear that she needs the space and the privacy to recover right now. She will return to work when she has had the greenlight from doctors.”
Princess Kate has not participated in an official public engagement since Christmas Day. Her long absence from the spotlight is understood to be one of the reasons that she was keen to deliver the news about her cancer via a video message. According to insiders, Kate wanted people to see that she was doing okay.
Sources close to the princess have told VF that the royal, who is going through a course of preventative chemotherapy, has “turned a corner” with her treatment in recent weeks and is feeling a lot better.
“It has been a great relief that she is tolerating the medication and is actually doing a lot better,” says a family friend. “It has, of course, been a very challenging and worrying time. Everyone has rallied around her—William, her parents, and her sister and brother.”
Prince William has carried out a number of official engagements while Kate’s been at home recovering, but he has also been keeping the couple’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, entertained. Over the weekend, William and George took in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
This week the children are on half-term, and the family is believed to be at their countryside retreat, Anmer Hall, where they are also expected to spend the summer holidays.
