Good Days and Bad Days’: Princess of Wales Gives Update on Cancer

In a message to the public, Catherine said she would attend King Charles’s birthday parade this weekend and wrote candidly about “knowing I am not out of the woods yet.”

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, said on Friday that she planned to take part in a parade on Saturday marking the birthday of King Charles III, a tentative return to the public stage after confirming in March that she was being treated for cancer.

The news, which Catherine released in a highly personal six-paragraph statement, reflected both the progress she has made since she was first hospitalized for abdominal surgery last January and the long road to recovery she still faces.

“I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” Catherine wrote.

“On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting,” the princess said. “But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”

Catherine, 42, said that she hoped to take part in a few other public engagements during the summer. But the princess, who has not been seen in public since last Christmas Day, emphasized that her appearance in the parade on Saturday — her first in several months — did not represent a formal return to public life.

“I am not out of the woods yet,” she wrote. “I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”

Still, even this cautious return to normalcy will be a significant source of relief for the British royal family, which has struggled in recent months as both Catherine and Charles, her father-in-law, battled serious health problems.

Charles and Catherine are among the family’s most visible members. Their illnesses and sudden absence put a strain on the family, which was still coming to terms with the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Charles, who was hospitalized for treatment of his prostate in January, began to return to public duties in April. Last week, he took part in ceremonies to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. He has looked healthy in recent appearances, though Buckingham Palace has released few details about his treatment or prognosis.