Prince William attends first royal engagement after Kate Middleton cancer announcement
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on April 18, 2024
(LONDON) — Prince William returned to work this week in his first official public appearance since his wife Kate, the princess of Wales, revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer.
William is traveling to Surrey on Thursday to visit Surplus to Supper, a nonprofit organization that distributes surplus food to people in need.
The royal engagement is the first for William since March, when Kate shared publicly for the first time that she was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
Kate shared her diagnosis in a video message released March 22, the same day that William and Kate’s three kids, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, began an Easter holiday break from school.
Kensington Palace said at the time that William would return to public duties once George, Charlotte and Louis returned to school.
In her video message, Kate asked for privacy for her family.
Kensington Palace has said only that Kate will return to public duties once she is medically cleared to do so.
The family has stayed out of the spotlight since Kate’s announcement, including not attending Easter service at St. George’s Chapel with other members of the royal family.
Since Kate’s announcement, the only sighting of members of the Wales family came on April 11, when William and George attended an Aston Villa soccer game in Birmingham, England.
William’s return to royal duties is a needed boost for Britain’s royal family.
In addition to Kate taking a pause from royal duties, her father-in-law King Charles III is on a reduced workload due to his own battle with cancer.
The palace has not specified the type of cancer Charles was diagnosed with, the stage of cancer or the type of treatment he is undergoing.
In Charles and Kate’s absence, the pressure has fallen on William, as well as Charles’ wife Queen Camilla, to be the most public faces of the royal family.
Buckingham Palace has not said when Charles will fully resume public duties.
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