Kate Middleton 'Is Being Restrained': Princess of Wales 'Wants to Be Back' for Royal Duties But Lives in Shadow of Cancer Treatment

In the last eight months, Catherine, Princess of Wales, has attended only two royal engagements at June 15's Trooping the Colour and July 14's Wimbledon Men's Final match. Her Royal Highness "wants to be back" in public, but "is being restrained" by the "consistent" preventative chemotherapy treatments she receives.

This led veteran royal author Ingrid Seward to tell GBN: "I actually don't think she is going to be back to full-time duties by the autumn. Catherine is still recovering, and she's still having treatment, but we will be seeing her at big royal events."

She reiterated: "She's still having the cancer treatment, and as she said earlier this year, she has good days and bad days."

Ever since the future queen's return to the royal spotlight in mid-June, numerous royal analysts have wondered when she would return "for good," but Seward believes many are missing the point.

"She wants to get out there, but I don't think she's going to be back at the daily chore of royal duties, visiting hospitals, things like that, I don't think she'd be strong enough," she observed. "But she looks terrific. We know she's had a brutal year, in fact probably much, much worse than any of us can imagine."

The Editor-in-Chief of Majesty Magazine then revealed: "She's doing what her doctors are telling her, and she's taking it very gently. I'm sure she wants to go full steam ahead, but she is being restrained."

The future queen was accompanied to Wimbledon last month by her daughter, Princess Charlotte, 9, and her younger sister, Pippa Middleton, 40, at Wimbledon, both of whom appeared to have enjoyed the match next to the princess. HRH wore a purple dress that many cited as an homage to her late mother-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, who wore purple in the Royal Box in July 1991.

Robert Jobson, the author of Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen, shared that she "showed a lot of courage and character, as she knew that the world was watching."

"Before, she used to live her life by the calendar, and now she is living her life, and the calendar comes in after," he added. "She will be back, but when you have had an experience like this, it changes your perspective and the order of things."

"This will have given her sustenance," a palace insider told an outlet. "She has gone through something awful and stressful, and it is crucial to have little wins to look forward to or to give you the courage and energy to go forward. And this was it."