The Mirror’s royal editor Russell Myers has written the first joint biography of the Prince and Princess of Wales in over a decade. William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story draws on exclusive access to numerous palace insiders and features never-before-told context about the biggest stories to have followed the Prince and Princess of Wales in recent years
Here in the second part of the exclusive four part serialisation in The Mirror, the deeply personal experience felt by the Prince of Wales after his wife Kate and his father, King Charles, were diagnosed with the disease within days of each other in early 2024, is told for the first time…
While the start of the year usually represents a gentle beginning to the royal calendar, 2024 was about to change all that. William was left in an extraordinary position. Suddenly, with three children to care for at home and no live-in staff at their Adelaide Cottage home, and with his wife and father in hospital, his future was looking decidedly different.
When the Princess of Wales entered hospital on 16 January, and was then ghosted out two weeks later to disappear completely from public view for potentially months on end, it created an incredible vacuum of information. “When Catherine went in, he was fairly resolute,” said a close aide.
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“They both very calmly told the children what was going on and how long Catherine would need to be away for, but explained other than that everything would continue as normal and when she came home, she would need to rest up for a bit.”
Catherine was able to keep in touch with her family through video calls from her bedside, catching up on what George, Charlotte and Louis had been doing at school and asking if ‘Papa’ had been able to cook for them while she had been away.
“At that time it seemed to all be perfectly in hand, they were the calmness in the storm certainly. But away from the children he was of course incredibly pensive. His father’s illness brought into focus just how quickly his life, and that of his family as well as the whole landscape of the institution, could change very quickly.”
Catherine’s bravery in preparing her public cancer statement
In perhaps the most emblematic moment of the irrationality of the time, on 20 March the Daily Mirror revealed how a criminal investigation had been launched at the hospital where Catherine had been treated, over claims that three staff had allegedly tried to access the princess’s private medical records.
The security breach, confirmed by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which was leading the criminal probe, made headlines around the world for days. Yet on the day of the Mirror’s world exclusive the princess was not concerning herself with the probe or the people at the centre of it. She was steadying herself for something much more life-changing.
Two weeks before that moment on a warm spring afternoon in March when she had sat down to pose for a photograph with her family, Catherine had been contacted by her medical team at the London Clinic.
With William by her side, the Princess of Wales, who had previously been in for a major, yet routine abdominal operation, was told that secondary tests had shown cancer was present. The advice was an immediate course of preventative chemotherapy in order to give her the best chance of a full recovery.
Friends of Catherine say that although she was caught completely in shock, she remained composed. Her first thoughts were of her children and her husband.
William, according to friends, later told how he was in “a state of disbelief”. First his father had been diagnosed with cancer, and a month later his wife was now facing a similar challenge. Catherine called her parents and her siblings to tell them, then she and William resolved to gather the children and impart what they knew in the best and most positive way possible.
Catherine had already decided to make a personal statement. She had seen the positivity and warmth that had greeted the King when he had been so open about his own diagnosis. More than that, though, the princess believed that her experience could benefit others in similar distressing circumstances. Catherine’s family rallied round, with her sister Pippa helping to write the script for the short video statement.
Dressed in a simple striped jumper and jeans, sitting on a wooden bench and surrounded by a serene spring backdrop of daffodils – a world away from the disgraceful chaos peddled by faceless social media trolls – Catherine calmly described how the diagnosis had come as a “huge shock” on top of an “incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family”.
The message, recorded in complete secrecy by a BBC special events team, was broadcast on the 6pm national news and online. Much like the announcement of the death of Elizabeth II, it felt like an earthquake whose reverberations were felt around the world. “The days beforehand were filled with shock, but at that moment, it was genuinely as if the world stood still”, said a senior courtier.
“Everyone knew it was a huge moment. It was incredibly emotional. But to know both she and William had had to prepare themselves to tell their three young children that Mummy was ill and would have to go back to hospital, but that she would be OK, was just extraordinary.”
A close friend spoke of the prince’s reaction: “It was like being hit by a bus, sudden, brutal, and completely disorienting. One moment life was normal, and the next, everything changed. He worships her, truly. She’s his world, and when the diagnosis came, it was as if the ground beneath him vanished. He talked about the rug being pulled, but it was more than that, it was heartbreak, fear and helplessness all at once.
“Watching him go through it was deeply emotional. You could see it in his eyes; in the way he held himself. But through it all, his devotion to her never wavered. He’s been by her side every step, and the depth of his devotion is something that stays with you. It’s love in its rawest, most powerful form.”
Away from the public gaze, William and Catherine did what they could to ensure that life carried on as normal for their three young children. The Prince of Wales took charge of the school drop-offs, while Catherine’s parents and siblings were regular visitors to the family home in Windsor.
Quiet evening dinners were enjoyed at home, playdates were organised to keep the children entertained and there were weekends away at the Middletons’ family home in Berkshire – all part of enveloping George, Charlotte and Louis with as much love and support as possible. While the children benefited from having their mum at home all the time, the road of treatment and recovery was not simple.
Once the initial shock of her diagnosis had passed, the schedule of regular hospital appointments and the time needed to recuperate and regain enough strength to start each week, both physically and mentally, took its toll. Throughout everything thrown at her, she was incredibly upbeat”, a friend said.
“Even in her darkest moments, dealing with the physical and mental side effects, it was a pretty gruelling time. But her focus was always on her children. Being as positive and optimistic as possible was all for them.” From the start of her programme of treatment, Catherine immersed herself in what she described to friends as “natural healing” – embracing the art of ‘shinrin-yoku’.
A national pastime in Japan, also known in the West as ‘forest bathing’, it has been credited with reducing stress and promoting well-being. She is a big believer in the natural world and its ability to help us heal”, said a friend.
“Having that mantra definitely helped the family connect during her treatment because they were able to spend so much time together, and getting outside in nature was a huge factor in her recovery.”
Another friend told how William and Catherine’s relationship entered its strongest phase, through “mutual love and support”. They are both incredibly proud of each other. Making sure the children weren’t affected, it was a lot.
“They were both very conscious of protecting them as much as possible. Catherine’s admiration for the way in which William took on all of that, keeping the children entertained and occupied, being constantly sanguine even when he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, allowing her to concentrate on her treatment and recovery, is something she will be eternally grateful for.”
Extracted from WILLIAM AND CATHERINE by RUSSELL MYERS, published by Ebury Spotlight on 26th February at £22. Copyright © Russell Myers 2025.
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