Kate Middleton resumed her public duties Tuesday with a candid visit to Colchester Hospital in Essex, offering rare insight into her ongoing recovery following cancer treatment. The Princess of Wales, 43, described the post-treatment phase as "really, really difficult" during a conversation with staff and patients in the hospital's well-being garden.
"You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment. Treatment's done, then it's like, 'I can crack on, get back to normal,' but actually, the phase afterwards is really, really difficult," Princess Kate said, reflecting on the emotional and physical toll of life after chemotherapy.
The princess, who announced in March 2024 that she had been undergoing treatment for cancer, has gradually returned to the public eye in recent weeks after confirming in January 2025 that she was in remission. Despite missing the Royal Ascot in June, Kate joined family members at Trooping the Colour and the Order of the Garter ceremony, signaling a careful but deliberate re-entry into official engagements.
Speaking during the hospital visit, Kate emphasized the value of support beyond clinical care. "You're not necessarily under the clinical team any longer, but you're not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to," she said. "And actually, someone to help talk you through that... I think is really valuable."
Kate planted several "Catherine's Rose" blooms, a newly launched pink rose named in her honor by the Royal Horticultural Society. Proceeds from the rose benefit the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, where she received treatment. The garden at Colchester, opened in July 2024, was developed in partnership with the RHS, Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity, and NHS Charities Together, of which Kate and Prince William are joint patrons.
"She's being sensible, listening to what her body is telling her and easing back into public life," Ailsa Anderson, Queen Elizabeth's former spokeswoman, told People.
Dwayne Fields, a chief scout who accompanied the princess on a prior outdoor event, said: "She would say, 'During my recovery, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors because that's where I felt at peace.'" He added, "That's her superpower. She's a wonderfully warm person and invites you into a conversation."
Nature has been a consistent element in Kate's public initiatives. In 2019, she championed "forest bathing," a mindfulness practice rooted in time spent in natural environments. Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith noted the symbolism in an earlier photograph of Kate beneath a tree in Windsor: "There she is in nature, which has fortified her, and looking upward in a sign of real hope."
Kate is expected to participate in the French state visit to the U.K. on July 8 and may also appear at Wimbledon. She and Prince William are likely to spend part of the summer at Anmer Hall in Norfolk before joining King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Balmoral Castle in August.
