Princess Kate completes chemotherapy but says road to 'full recovery is long'

Princess of Wales confirms she will return to public duties in heartfelt video message

Princess Kate announced on Monday she has completed her course of chemotherapy and plans to return to public duties.

The Princess of Wales appeared in a video with her family and delivered a heartfelt message about her cancer journey, speaking over images showing the family enjoying the outdoors, walking through woods and Kate and Prince William cuddling and holding hands.

She said the past nine months have been “incredibly tough for us as a family”, adding the “cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone”.

Kate said the experience has given her a “new perspective on everything”.

“Doing what I can to stay cancer-free is now my focus,” she said.

“Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.

“I am, however, looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.

“Despite all that has gone before, I enter this new phase of recovery with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life.”

Kate, who is continuing to work from home, is hoping to return to a light programme of public duties for the remainder of the year, reflecting her need to make a full recovery. She aims to attend a handful of engagements in the coming months.

She is also working towards appearing with the royal family at the annual Remembrance Sunday service staged at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

The Princess’ Christmas Carol concert at Westminster Abbey has become a firm fixture in the royal calendar and she has started to work on the project.

Meanwhile, King Charles III reached the second anniversary of his accession to the throne with his health “heading in a very positive trajectory”, a royal source has said.

The king and Queen Camilla are preparing for a tour to Australia and Samoa – their first major overseas trip since news of Charles’s cancer was announced.

“Health has to remain the number one priority, albeit heading in a very positive trajectory,” a source said.

Camilla gave an insight into the king's treatment this week when she opened a new cancer centre in Bath, revealing he was “doing very well”.

Downtime will be incorporated in Australia and Samoa, with a limit on the number of meetings. Consideration has been given to the time difference, and a trip to New Zealand has been removed to reduce the travel demands.

The king spent about three months away from public-facing duties and returned in April to visit a cancer centre in London.

“The best way of seeing how the king has coped is through his actions and words – everything that you’ve seen, everything that he’s said, and everything that he’s done,” the source said.

“From the earliest outset of the health challenge, it was the king's determination to be as public as he was able, so that people could be reassured by just how much he was still able to do in the circumstances, under his doctors’ advice.

“That has obviously dialled up as the programme of treatment and recovery continued, with the result that the king is off on a 12,000-mile trip to Australia and Samoa in a few weeks.”

The king is said to have been greatly encouraged by the way his health has been able to broaden discussion and engagement around the issues of all forms of cancer, such as the rise in prostate screening after he had surgery at the start of the year.