Royal family
Find out what some royal insiders are saying about the Princess of Wales’ feelings over a mishap before her cancer announcement in 2024.
There’s no denying that the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) had a difficult 2024. The year began with an announcement that the mom-of-three underwent abdominal surgery, which required a lengthy hospital stay. But speculation about her health began and nasty rumors were spread when she had not been seen in public for months.
Then came what at first appeared to be a simple social media post from Kate that turned into an international story and forced the princess to apologize. And while all of that was going on, what the public didn’t know was that Kate had been privately battling cancer.
Now, as she and her family celebrate a special holiday this year, some are looking back on last year’s unfortunate mishap and how the princess felt when a simple photo turned into an embarrassing international story.
What Kate had to apologize for on Mother’s Day in 2024
Unlike the U.S. where the holiday of Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, the holiday is celebrated in the U.K. on the fourth Sunday of Lent (three weeks before Easter Sunday). In 2024, it fell on March 10, and that’s when Kate released a harmless photo of her and her three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, smiling as they posed for a picture together.
Within hours of the images being shared, Kate was embroiled in a firestorm of edited photo drama as a handful of news and photo agencies ordered a “kill notification,” citing concerns of manipulation.
The Princess of Wales later issued an apology on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
Kate and Prince William ‘felt bruised’ and like they were on a ‘roller coaster’
The whole photo controversy upset not just Kate, but also Prince William as they were going through so much privately while some members of the public and media bashed the princess.
“There was a real sense then that they felt bruised by it,” royal author Robert Hardman told People. “It was treated like some great fraud.”
Two weeks after the editing fiasco, Kate revealed that she had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Biographer Sally Bedell Smith, who runs the Substack Royals Extra, said: “They were besieged by ugly speculation and intrusion, with Kate having to make an announcement that was very worrying and uncertain.”
The late Queen Elizabeth II‘s former secretary, Ailsa Anderson, explained: “It was like being on a roller coaster for them … undergoing chemotherapy and trying to protect your children. It was like being in the middle of a tornado and not knowing when it was going to calm down.”
In September 2024, the Princess of Wales announced that she had completed her chemotherapy and was “doing what I can to stay cancer-free.” In January 2025, Kate shared that her cancer was in remission, giving her and her family another special reason to celebrate Mother’s Day this year.
