Catherine, Princess of Wales, attended her first major royal event on Saturday since completing chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
Kate, as everyone calls her, smiled and clapped alongside her husband, Prince William, at the Festival of Remembrance concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The musical event is one of the most important dates in the royal calendar, with the more solemn ceremony planned for Sunday at the Cenotaph, a war memorial. Both events honor fallen British soldiers.
Kate and William were joined in the royal box by King Charles III, who is still undergoing treatment for his own cancer. In February, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles, 75, was suffering from cancer, without specifying the nature, and that he was withdrawing from public life to undergo treatment.
The following month, Kate, 42, revealed that she too had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. Both have since made a limited return to public life. Charles recently took a brief break from treatment for a trip to Australia and Samoa.
Kate announced in September that she had finished chemotherapy and was looking forward to taking on more commitments. Last month, she and the heir to the throne visited Southport, in northwest England, to meet residents affected by a knife attack that left three girls dead in July.
Kate is expected to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph near Parliament in London on Sunday, along with other members of the royal family, political leaders and current and former members of the armed forces, including war veterans.
This will be the first time she has participated in official engagements for two consecutive days since the start of the year. William said this week that the past year had been “brutal“and probably”the hardest” of his life, because of the two cancer diagnoses. “Honestly, it’s been awful” he told reporters on Thursday at the end of a trip to South Africa.
Queen Camilla, Charles’s wife, missed Saturday’s concert and is also expected to be absent on Sunday because of a lung infection, the royal palace said.
“Although this will be a source of great disappointment for the Queen, she will mark the occasion privately and hopes to be able to resume her public duties early next week” said a palace spokesperson.
Kate Middleton
