Prince William “Wasn’t Emotionally Prepared” for the Dual Cancer Diagnoses of His Wife, Princess Kate, and His Father, King Charles, Royal Expert Says

Prince William turns 42 one week from tomorrow, on June 21—and, while the first half of his 41st year was mostly business as usual, the latter half has been anything but. It takes a different kind of strength and resilience—an almost superhuman kind of strength and resilience—to weather the dual cancer diagnoses of your wife and father, while raising three kids 10 years old and under, while continuing to work, while the entire world is watching. But that’s what William’s 2024 has looked like.

Prayerfully, his 42nd year will be much smoother waters than the monsoon these past six months have brought on his life. When it comes to what life has been like for the Prince of Wales in 2024, royal historian Gareth Russell told Us Weekly “maybe he wasn’t emotionally prepared for it,” he said. (After all, in all fairness, who among us is prepared for hearing that your father and your wife—who were going in for seemingly routine procedures—both have cancer?) William losing his beloved mother, Princess Diana, at just 15 years old and knowing the immense grief that comes from a loss like that couldn’t have made this tumultuous time any easier.

Of his father the King, Russell said that Charles “yes, is elderly, but his father was famously quite healthy and lives well, eats well, and, according to his wife, Queen Camilla, just never stops walking,” he said of the shock William must have felt at his diagnosis. Every cancer diagnosis is shocking, but maybe none more so than Kate’s, who is young (only 42 herself), fit, and active. Both Charles and Kate’s specific type and stage of cancer have not been publicly disclosed, and they may never be publicly disclosed.

Despite it all, Russell said that “so far” William has shown himself to be “more than competent and capable” of stepping up in their absence. Though the King is now back on public duty, he remained behind the scenes from the day he announced his diagnosis on February 5 until his return to public engagements on April 30; Kate, for her part, hasn’t been on royal duty since Christmas Day 2023 and the annual church service at St. Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate that the entire royal family traditionally attends. Her return date remains ambiguous, with some speculating it could be as far out as next year.

As for this time period in William’s life, “It’s been stressful,” a source told Us Weekly in April. “William feels a profound sense of duty to uphold the monarchy’s stability and inspire confidence in the public that everything will be okay. It’s an immense responsibility.” 

Longtime royal photographer Samir Hussein—who, along with his father, Anwar, and his brother, Zak, have photographed the royal family’s biggest moments for decades—told Us Weekly that William is “still being himself” despite the “trying circumstances” of these past few months: “I think it remains very positive that Prince William has really stepped up to the mark with the King being out of action for a few months,” he said. “Prince William’s been through so much, obviously, with what’s been happening with Kate, which we didn’t know about for so long. I think he’s done remarkably well in really, really trying circumstances.”

He added of William’s demeanor at royal engagements lately that “He’s still being himself on engagements, he’s still been joking when he meets with the public. I think you can see this, just, determination from him to come through this, both for his father and his wife [during] what must be incredibly tough times for him.”