At the beginning of 2024, there was one thing on pop culture fans minds — what is going with Princess Kate Middleton?
For nearly two months, the public had a field day with speculation about her whereabouts, which was only fueled by claims that photos of the royal had been altered. By March, news broke that Kate had been quietly battling cancer.
“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous,” Kate shared in March. “The surgery was successful, however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I’m now in the early stages of that treatment.”
Kate stepped away from her duties as a senior royal family member for a majority of the year, only appearing at a few major events over the summer. By September, Kate announced that she had completed her chemotherapy treatments.
A Timeline of Kate Middleton’s Cancer Battle: Surgery, Chemo and More
Keep scrolling to look back at Kate’s whirlwind year:
Undergoing Surgery
Kensington Palace announced on January 17 that Kate was undergoing a “planned” abdominal surgery and would be taking a break from all public facing events. At the time, details about Kate’s health were kept under wraps.
The silence — and a month without any appearances from Kate in the public eye — lead to social media users to start to speculate about her whereabouts.
On February 29, a spokesperson for the palace addressed the chatter by confirming to Us Weekly that they would only be making “significant updates” about Kate’s recovery after the surgery. She was spotted for the first time on March 4 when TMZ obtained a photo of the Princess of Wales sitting in the passenger seat of her mom, Carole Middleton’s car. The photo only led to more unfounded chatter as some fans were convinced it wasn’t Kate in the image.
The Photoshop Snafu
Days after the first photo of Kate surfaced, the Princess of Wales celebrated Mother’s Day on March 10 — with a photo that had been edited. Initially, multiple news outlets received a “kill notification” to remove an image that had been posted via the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media accounts. Kate eventually addressed the photo, admitting to editing the image.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she shared in a statement via X the following day. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
The Conspiracy Theories Rev Up
Following Kate’s Photoshop scandal, social media started taking speculation about her whereabouts to a new level — with celebrities even chiming in. Kim Kardashian, for one, joked on March 16 that she was on her way to “go find Kate” in an Instagram caption.
Prince William Says Kate Has ‘Long Way to Go’ Despite Being Cancer Free
Stephen Colbert even repeated a theory that Kate’s disappearance had something to do with troubles in her marriage to Prince William. On an episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he repeated rumors from 2019 that William had an affair with Rose Hanbury. (After the episode, Hanbury shut down the rumors and Colbert eventually apologized.)
Kate’s Cancer Battle
On March 22, Kate announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer. To this day, she has not specified a type of illness. The Princess of Wales also revealed that she would be undergoing a course of chemotherapy and stepped out of the public eye.
Kate kept a low-profile until June 14, when she posed for a new photo that was shared via social media and offered an update on her health battle.
“I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months,” she wrote in a statement at the time. “It really has made the world of difference to William and me and has helped us both through some of the harder times. I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days.”
Kate made her first public appearance after announcing her cancer diagnosis on June 15 when attending Trooping the Colour. Nearly one month later, she made an appearance at Wimbledon on July 14.
Princess Kate Through the Years: From Commoner to Future Queen Consort
On September 9, Kate shared that she had completed chemotherapy and revealed that she was on a “long” road to recovery.
Making a Recovery
Kate made her return to royal duties following her cancer treatments on September 18, when meeting with team members of the Centre for Early Childhood. The Princess of Wales made a surprise appearance with William on October 10, her first since completing chemo.
Her Next Chapter
William offered a major update on his wife during an interview with U.K.’s The Times, which was published on November 10.
“I think, hopefully, Catherine will be doing a bit more next year,” he said. “So, we’ll have some more trips, maybe, lined up.”
