'It's been terrible': Prince William says he's had the 'most difficult' year of his life

A year to quickly forget. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his visit to South Africa, Prince William said he had experienced “probably the most difficult year” of his life. Indeed, the year 2024 was brutal for the future king of England who had to deal with the cancer diagnoses of his wife Kate and his father Charles III.

“It’s been terrible. This has probably been the hardest year of my life. So trying to overcome everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult,” he said after being asked about how his year was going, according to comments reported by the BBC. “I'm very proud of my wife, I'm proud of my father, for handling things this way. But from a personal and family point of view, it was brutal,” he said.

In early February, Buckingham Palace revealed that Charles III had a “form of cancer”, discovered during prostate surgery a week earlier. At the end of October, the king made his first official trip since the announcement of his illness by going to Australia.

In March, six weeks after the announcement of Charles' cancer, the Princess of Wales in turn indicated that she was undergoing chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis after several unusual weeks of absence from the public scene. At the end of January Buckingham Palace announced that she had been hospitalized for “abdominal surgery” without providing further information, giving rise to much speculation.

Prince William's wife then made her grand return in public on June 15, during the traditional “Trooping the Color” ceremony, a military parade organized for the birthday of King Charles III. Since then, she traveled to Wimbledon in July to present the trophy to Carlos Alcaraz during the final, then announced the end of her chemotherapy sessions on September 9. This Friday, November 8, Buckingham Palace announced that she will be present at the ceremonies organized in honor of British soldiers this weekend.

Asked about combining his role as future king, husband and father, Prince Charles told reporters he felt he had found the right balance between official duty and his private life. “I love my job, I like managing my time and making sure I have time for my family too,” he said.