She said in a post on X: “Grateful to everyone who helped create this special space for wellbeing, and to all those working and volunteering here to support patients. Thank you to those too who generously shared their stories of recovery.”
In another post, which featured footage from Wednesday’s visit, Kate talked about planting the rose which was named in her honour and dubbed it a “gesture rooted in hope and care”.
She added: “Grateful to spend time with NHS staff and volunteers tending this space, and to see the rose incorporated into gardens supporting recovery and reflection across the UK.”
The royal, who revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer in March last year, praised the centre’s “holistic” approach to the support it offers patients, relatives and carers, which includes counselling and dietary advice.
While chatting to a group of the centre’s users, volunteers and staff, the princess said: “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 said: “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.
“You have to find your new normal and that takes time.
“Someone described the sort of healing, recovery journey to me as being like a sort of zig-zag.
“It’s a rollercoaster, it’s not one smooth plain, which you expect it to be, but the reality is it’s not, you go through hard times and to have a place like this, to have the support network, whether its through creativity and singing or gardening, whatever it might be, is so valuable and it’s great that this community has it.
“It would be great if lots of communities had this kind of support.”
She added: “There is this whole phase when you finish your treatment that you, yourself, everybody expects you, right you’ve finished your time, go, you’re better, and that’s not the case at all.”