It’s the season of celebrations for the tight-knit Wales family—in just 10 days’ time, the family marks two of their three children’s birthdays (Prince Louis was born on April 23, and Princess Charlotte on May 2) as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales’ wedding anniversary on April 29. The cheerful, celebratory mood will surely be a welcome respite from the rest of 2024, which has been extraordinarily difficult on the royal family, with the one-two-three punch of cancer diagnoses for King Charles, the Princess of Wales, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; the suicide of Thomas Kingston; and the rampant media speculation about Kate’s whereabouts prior to the public finding out about her diagnosis on March 22.
Of Kate, royal author Christopher Andersen told Us Weekly “She remains a ray of light in what can often be a suffocatingly stuffy environment behind palace walls,” noting that this past year of William and Kate’s marriage “has been tumultuous” because of her health concerns. He added that their thirteenth wedding anniversary earlier this week was “bittersweet” for the couple, as “When they celebrated their twelfth anniversary by releasing a photo of themselves smiling broadly on bicycles, no one could have imagined that a year later, both Kate and the King would be battling cancer,” Andersen said.
Despite the challenges this year, William and Kate appear to be navigating their new normal as best they can, which means keeping their “tradition to stick close to home” on their April 29 anniversary. Andersen told the publication that the couple usually exchange “gifts laden with sentiment.” For example? Last year, William gave Kate “a diamond ring that had belonged to his mother, Princess Diana, and a replica of Kate’s wedding bouquet,” Andersen said. In return, Kate gave William “a framed sketch she had done of the couple from their student days at [the University of] St. Andrews,” he said.
While William and Kate haven’t publicly discussed what gifts they gave one another for their most recent anniversary, Andersen said he thinks they’ll be “equally personal.”
While it’s heretofore unknown what William and Kate did to mark the day itself, Andersen predicted that they’d celebrate with their kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, noting that, while many couples don’t include their kids in their anniversary plans, since Kate’s health scare, nearly every function has turned into a family affair for the Wales family of five.
“More than ever, William and Kate have reason to include the children in everything and keep the prevailing mood as upbeat as possible,” Andersen told Us Weekly. “Despite her challenges, Kate is incapable of being anything but resolutely cheerful around George, Charlotte, and Louis.”
Of the Prince and Princess of Wales, fellow royal author Robert Jobson told Hello recently “There is no question that William has been Catherine’s rock” through this season, adding of the couple that “he is the constant in her life, and she is at the heart of his.”
