Princess Kate sent a strong message to the world during her latest appearance in Essex this week. The Princess of Wales visited Colchester Hospital’s Wellbeing Centre on Wednesday to celebrate the healing power of nature and raise awareness of the important role that spending time in nature plays in bringing people joy and supporting our mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
While there, the future Queen discussed treatment and the importance of holistic cancer care with patients, volunteers and staff. She also planted several coral-pink Catherine’s Rose plants in the hospital’s Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Wellbeing Garden. Now, a royal commentator who covered the princess’s outing in Essex claimed that the future Queen made a “really strong” statement during the event.
Sky News’s royal correspondent, Rhiannon Mills, told Hello!’s A Right Royal Podcast: “It was fascinating being in the room with her, she very loudly and clearly wanted to get across this message that, yes, she is now effectively back to royal work, but it’s really difficult.”
Kate, who was diagnosed with cancer in March last year, talked about her own experience with the illness, telling a group of the centre’s users, volunteers and staff: “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment, treatment’s done, then it’s like ‘I can crack on, get back to normal’ but actually the phase afterwards is really, you know, difficult you’re not necessarily under the clinical team any longer but you’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to and actually someone to help talk you through that, show you and guide you through that sort of phase that comes after treatment I think is really valuable.”
She added: “It’s life changing for anyone, through first diagnosis or post-treatment and things like that, it is life changing experience both for the individual patient but also for the families as well and actually it sometimes goes unrecognised, you don’t necessarily, particularly when it’s the first time, you don’t appreciate how much impact it is going to have.”
Ms Mills commented on Kate’s comments, saying: “For me, it was the first time that she really clearly said, ‘I’m sorry, yes, I’m back at work. But now there are some times that I just can’t do what I used to be able to do.’
“She talked about the rollercoaster of it all, and kind of how it’s not just a smooth plane to recovery, but also very much for her, it did feel like a plea.
“It felt like, again, her reinforcing this message of, ‘I’m here. I’m here to do the public work. You are going to see me, but look, give me and my family a bit of understanding, but also be a bit more understanding towards other people who are also going through that difficult time.'”
