The Crown's Heavy Burden: Prince William and Kate Middleton Have Endured the 'Toughest Year of Their Lives Together' as Senior Royals

2024 has been the "toughest year" yet for Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, as the latter continues receiving preventative chemotherapy treatments for an undisclosed cancer. As a result of this, the future queen is "not out of the woods yet," when it comes to returning to royal public life.

This led royal expert Rebecca English to state in Daily Mail: HRH's "recovery will be ongoing for many months to come once even this is concluded."

"I don’t think people realize how much she has gone through behind the scenes and for how long, far longer than anyone actually appreciates," a source close to the Wales household added. "She’s an incredibly strong woman, but she really has been through the wars. Her treatment and recovery is still a priority and will be ongoing for some time to come."

A second source near the Wales' household added: "Kate's recovery is going well. She's not able to see many people because she is susceptible to getting sick, and they don’t want her compromised, but she’s up and about."

In the last eight months, Her Royal Highness 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, which could prevent her from returning to the style she used to perform in.

This led veteran royal author Ingrid Seward to share: "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 day."

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.