Princess Kate, Long a Supporter of Those Battling Cancer, Once Anonymously Donated Seven Inches of Her Hair to a Young Child Facing the Disease

In her video message released on Friday announcing to the world that she has been diagnosed with cancer, the Princess of Wales sits on a bench outside Windsor Castle in front of a row of yellow daffodils blossoming in the background behind her. As Marie Claire reported yesterday, this was intentional: many cancer organizations around the world use the daffodil as a symbol of hope for people who have been diagnosed with various types of cancer. The flower blossoms in the spring and “signals rebirth and new beginnings,” as well as “resilience and reassurance, as it returns during the same time each year,” People reports.

Us Weekly reports that there is a Daffodil Day to celebrate cancer survivors and patients, “in which individuals wear the flowers pinned onto their lapels,” the outlet writes. “Kate and her husband, Prince William, have previously [been] spotted wearing daffodil pins in solidarity.” 

Kate is a longstanding supporter of charities supporting those with cancer, and at the end of her message—which she wrote herself—she made sure to include that, as she continues treatment, she is “also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer,” adding “For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”

As news of Kate’s cancer diagnosis is absorbed by the public globally, The Mirror reports an unknown story about the Princess of Wales: that she donated her hair to young children with cancer. The princess—whose hair is famously revered—“is believed to [have] cut off seven inches of her own hair to donate to charity to help make a realistic wig for a child who lost their hair while having treatment—and did the good deed anonymously,” the outlet reports. 

Kate reportedly came up with the idea after speaking with her hairdresser while she was pregnant in 2018 with her youngest, Prince Louis. Her hairdresser apparently told Kate it was time for a haircut as “it was just getting too long,” a source said. While he was cutting her hair, “the idea came to her of doing some good with it rather than throwing it away,” they said. She mentioned it to her hairdresser, “who thought it was a brilliant idea.”

“It was sent using someone else’s name so that the trust didn’t know it was from a royal source—they just thought it was from a female donor in the Kensington area,” they said. “It’s lovely to think somewhere a little girl is happily wearing a wig made from a real princess’ hair. It’s a very heartwarming thing for Kate to have done, and very thoughtful to use hair that would have otherwise just been thrown away.”

In 2021, Kate famously met Mila Sneddon, who at age four was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. (Mila is now eight years old and in remission.) Mila’s story touched Kate after her photo was included in Kate’s photography project during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hold Still, and Mila “had come to symbolize isolation during lockdown after being pictured kissing the kitchen window in her home as her father stood outside,” The Mirror reports. “The little girl had been undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia and was photographed separated from her father during the first lockdown because he had to keep working and could not risk bringing COVID-19 into the family home.”

After seeing the image, Kate and Mila spoke on the phone, and Mila’s photo was among 100 selected for Kate’s Hold Still exhibition and book. In May 2021, Kate and Mila met when Mila, who is from Scotland, and her family were invited to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where Kate wore pink, per Mila’s request.

“She will be brave because I was, and she will fight it like I did,” Mila told The Mirror. Mila—who has been cancer free for two years—is now reportedly making a get-well card wishing Kate a speedy recovery. 

“Kate showed Mila such compassion, care, and support both during and past treatment,” Mila’s mother Lynda Sneddon said. “So it’s been very emotional to see she is now facing her own health struggles. Cancer is like a community and a club that no one wants to be in. We are very sad to hear she has joined the club, but the Sneddons are completely behind her and we wish her the very best. We have nothing but admiration for her to have been able to come out and publicly tell her story.”

Kate’s type and stage of cancer have not been disclosed, but in Kate’s statement on Friday, she stressed that she is “well and getting stronger every day.”