for CELEBRITY
A king and a princess diagnosed with cancer, a prince torn between family and duty - the house of Windsor is charting unprecidented waters
For the Windsors, the first months of 2024 have been astonishingly painful – leaving the Royal family exposed as never before.
In the words of Royal expert Katie Nicholl: ‘It’s been a storm, it’s been unprecedented and unsettling, and destabilising.’
The first sign that something was amiss came with the shock announcement on 17 January that Catherine, the Princess of Wales, had been admitted to a private London hospital for ‘planned abdominal surgery’ and was not expected back at work till after Easter.
Later the same day, it was announced that King Charles would be undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate.
On 29 January, Charles was seen waving at well-wishers as he left hospital and Catherine was said to be recovering at home.
Yet, all was not as it seemed bethind palace doors and on 5 February, Buckingham Palace announced that the King had cancer and while he was undergoing treatment, he would be standing down from publicfacing duties.
The next day, his younger son Prince Harry flew to London. A public hoping for a reconciliation between the king’s sons were disappointed by the brevity of the meeting - said to last just 40 minutes - and the clear sign that not even their father’s illness would see them meeting up.
On 27 February, Prince William pulled out of a memorial service for his godfather King Constantine of Greece, citing a ‘personal matter’.
‘That was the moment that set the fox running as far as conspiracy theories around what was going on with Kate and William,’ said commentator Daisy McAndrew. ‘The vacuum of information created a hullabaloo.’
The hashtag ‘Where’s Kate?’ began to trend on social media and, with the Princess not having been seen in public since Christmas Day, the rumour mill went into overdrive.
On Mother’s Day, Kensington Palace released an image of Kate and her three children, taken by Prince William. In the picture, Kate looked relaxed and smiling – and the intention was
