The Princess of Wales has attended her first engagement of 2025 and poignantly visited the hospital where she underwent cancer treatment.
After enjoying precious family time outside of the public eye over Christmas, the Princess of Wales has resumed her royal duties for 2025 with an incredibly moving engagement. Stepping out in London on 14th January - five days after Prince William shared Kate’s 43rd birthday photo alongside a heartfelt message - the future Queen visited the Royal Marsden Hospital. She made this personal event to thank members of staff for their compassion and care and confirmed that this hospital was where she underwent her own treatment for cancer.
"The Princess wanted to make the journey to both show her gratitude to the incredible team, but also highlight the world leading care and treatment the Marsden provides," a spokesperson for Kensington Palace declared, as per the BBC.
During her visit to the Royal Marsden, the Princess of Wales is said to have explained how arriving for this engagement was quite a different experience after all of her private visits to the hospital as a patient.
She declared, "I was just saying, coming in the front entrance here, having made so many quiet, private visits, actually it's quite nice."
Her Royal Highness met with both medical staff and cancer patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital and expressed her thanks and support to them. Remarking upon the approaches taken by the world-leading specialist cancer hospital, Kate described how the treatments are "really so different and so varied" and how it "impacts families differently".
As well as highlighting their significant work, Kate will be lending them her continuing support as she is becoming a joint Patron of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust alongside Prince William.
The Prince of Wales has also been the hospital’s President since 2007 and this position was previously held by his late mother Princess Diana.
It was in March last year that Kate first made her cancer diagnosis public and she confirmed in September that she’d completed her treatment with a special message and video by Will Warr. During her time at the Royal Marsden, she candidly reflected upon how it felt to finish chemotherapy and the difficulties that come with trying to resume "normal" life.
"You think the treatment has finished and you can crack on and get back to normal, but that's still a real challenge," she said. "The words totally disappear. And understanding that as a patient, yes there are side effects around treatment but actually there are more long-term side effects.
The Princess later added, "Sometimes from the outside we all think you've finished treatment and you go back to things. But it's hard to get back to normal."
For her, "continuity is so important" on both good and bad days and she felt that this is sometimes more significant for loved ones. "They need support just as much as I did as the patient," she declared, as per The Telegraph.
Throughout 2024 every message Kate shared referenced her love for her family and it was clear that they were at the forefront of her mind as her support network at this challenging time. She, Prince William, Prince George, Charlotte and Louis walked to church together on Christmas Day and the family likely celebrated her 43rd birthday quietly at Adelaide Cottage on 9th January ahead of this poignant first engagement back in 2025.
