Kate Middleton is continuing her recovery from her abdominal surgery in mid-January. The Princess of Wales left the hospital, The London Clinic, almost two weeks after the surgery, but some argued that the fact that she stayed for that long was a rather bad sign.
While Kate is recovering and King Charles begins his cancer treatment, Prince William takes on a considerable load as a husband and the future king. He is being assisted by both the family nanny and family members, and as of now, they have gotten some well-deserved weekend at their country house of Anmer Hall.
Kate’s recovery period will be at least until Easter. However, a doctor has previously warned that she could be out for many more months. Meanwhile, royal expert Michael Cole has now given an update on Kate’s situation. He said the situation has been more serious than we might have thought.
Kensington Palace’s sudden statement that Kate Middleton had undergone a “planned” abdominal surgery left royal fans worldwide in shock.
The Princess of Wales stayed at The London Clinic in central London for 13 days before returning home to Adelaide Cottage to continue her recovery. But while the public learned about the surgery, many wanted more.
Kate Middleton kept surgery details private
In the first statement made by Kensington Palace, it said that Kate hoped that “the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible” and also that she wished that “her personal medical information remains private.”
At the same time, royal fans wanted to know about Kate’s medical condition. Royal expert Richard Eden appeared on the show Palace Confidential and stated that people even had written letters to The Times and online to ask for more information about the surgery.
However, the fact that people want more from Kate regarding revealing her health issue left Eden very concerned.
In his opinion, pressuring Kate into giving updates and sharing more information about her medical condition could even come across as “bullying.”
“I think that there’s no reason why she should she feel bullied into giving more details,” Eden said. “If she wants to, at a later point, fine, that’s up to her. But, she shouldn’t feel that she has to.”
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Eden continued speaking about the comments from the public, saying, “It’s been ‘She should give more details,’ and ‘Why doesn’t she?’”
“And there’s been more pressure, there’s even been letters written to The Times newspaper, saying it would be a great example to other women if she was to be more open about her medical problems and this sort of thing.”
Kate Middleton made ‘big mistake’ by not disclosing her medical condition, expert says
King Charles was praised for being open with his corrective procedure – and later cancer diagnosis – not least because it could inspire other men to visit the hospital and have a checkup.
On the other hand, Kate didn’t disclose her medical issue, which one royal expert claimed was a big mistake.
Writing for News.com.au, expert Daniela Elser stated that Kate Middleton blew an “enormous opportunity” to raise awareness and possibly help others, just like King Charles most likely has done with disclosing his medical details.
“The abdomen starts with the liver and ends somewhere colon-ish, meaning that there are umpteen reasons why the princess might currently be laid up and enjoying midmorning tele in a pristine starched white room full of bleepy machines and enough flower arrangements to kit out Westminster Abbey,” Elser wrote
“No one who is not in the Middleton family chat knows exactly what is troubling the mother-of-three and I can’t help but think that the princess has wasted an enormous opportunity here. Kate could possibly have made a huge difference this month and she has chosen not to.”
Further, the royal expert continued by saying that although Kate “is still human” and “entitled to privacy,” she could have calmed the public by announcing what was wrong with her.
“She has every right to not have to air her every sniffle, ache, and minor rash with the leering public or is not obligated to have her staff put out a press release every time she might get some light symptoms of IBS,” Elser continued.
“Passed up on the chance to raise awareness”
“All that has been made known by Kensington Palace about the princess is that whatever is wrong with her is non-cancerous, a detail I’m assuming they only released to prevent mass panic in the aisles of Asda. Tamping down public fears is good and all that but hardly goes much of a ways for such a huge missed opportunity.”
Royal expert Daniela Elser concluded, “The princess has wholly passed up on the chance to raise awareness about whatever might be bedeviling her right now and to possibly also destigmatize whatever illness might be ailing her. Charles, in making me type the word ‘prostate’ far too often, has done the world a great service. So why hasn’t Kate?”
Since Kate Middleton left The London Clinic on January 29, she has recovered at Adelaide cottage. Prince William has returned to royal duty after taking a short break during Kate’s two-week stay at the hospital.
While simultaneously juggling his responsibilities as a father-of-three and future king, William is significantly helped by the family nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, and Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.
There have been few updates about Kate’s recovery. However, on Wednesday, February 6, about a week after she had returned home, Prince William broke the silence as he attended London’s Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner.
Prince William gives update on Kate’s recovery
There, Kate’s husband held a speech and thanked everyone for their kind wishes regarding both his wife as well as his father, King Charles, who was diagnosed with cancer on Monday.
“Good evening everyone. Thank you all for being here. And thank you to those whose hard work has made this evening possible. I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all,” William said.
He added, “It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather medical focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all.”
Early the same day, Prince William held an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, handing out more than 50 honors.
One of the people receiving an MBE was Patricia Sprouse. Later, she took to LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network online, to share the news of the fantastic honor.
However, she also disclosed a new detail about Princess Kate’s recovery. And it turns out that she has quite the help at home.
“What an amazing experience, the castle was just breathtaking, everyone was so lovely to us as we were just in awe of everything,” Sprouse wrote on LinkedIn. “Prince William said that Catherine had two Filipino nurses looking after her and they were amazing and kind.”
Royal expert states Kate’s surgery was “major”
Only time will tell if Princess Kate is back on royal duty right after Easter. However, shortly after the surgery, abdominal surgery expert Shashank Gurjar claimed that the recovery could take up to nine months, depending on several factors.
Meanwhile, even though we don’t have any details on what the surgery was about, royal expert Michael Cole now states that we can be sure it is a serious matter.
Speaking to GB News, Cole said that it probably would be a long time before we see her in action again, claiming it was a “major” surgery.
Cole told GB News that the princess should not be following suit as her operation was “obviously major.”
“Other members of the Royal Family, like Prince William, will have to step up and do more”, he said.
“Of course, that’s complicated because at the same time, his wife, the Princess of Wales, is suffering also with an undisclosed form of illness. Without any doubt, the surgery she underwent at the London Clinic was no minor matter.”
He continued, “She was in there for 13 nights, 14 days, and we don’t know what’s wrong, but it’s obviously major.”
Moreover, Michael Cole was questioned about how Kate’s surgery – as well as King Charles’ cancer diagnosis – has affected the royal family as a whole. According to him, “everything has changed”.
“It’s very difficult, and it’s very unfortunate for the king because he waited 70 years to inherit this role, and he started off doing it very well. He’s now got this hiatus, this pushback, but the affairs of state will continue. There’s no doubt of that,” he told GB News.
Kate Middleton traveling to Norfolk – ‘positive sign’ of recovery
Meanwhile, even though Kate hasn’t spoken about how she is doing, another update proves that the Princess of Wales isn’t only in bed anymore.
A few days ago, Kate Middleton reportedly traveled to Norfolk for the half-term break with Prince William and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, to spend some days at Anmer Hall.
The last time Kate was there was when she celebrated her birthday shortly after New Year’s Eve and had family and friends over. However, at that point, even though she knew about it, it was claimed that Kate didn’t tell close friends and people close to the royal family about her then-upcoming surgery.
“She [Kate] was looking forward to a change of scene and will be able to take it easy in Norfolk while the children let off steam with William,” a source told the Daily Mail, adding that “Catherine is recovering well.”
The fact that Kate can travel is a positive sign that her health is improving. Speaking to OK! Magazine, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond says that the princess and her family prefer to stay in Norfolk, especially since it’s close to their Windsor home.
“One of the great beauties of Norfolk is that it is so accessible from London. Of course, if you’re royal, you can get anywhere quicker than most – and sometimes they probably use a helicopter – but even by car, it’s only a couple of hours, and that makes it so much easier than getting to Balmoral,” she said.
Bond added: “Windsor is lovely, and they have a beautiful house, of course. But it’s also on the Heathrow flight path, and that can be very intrusive. William and Kate find all they want as a family in the wide open spaces that Norfolk offers.
“I think it’s very encouraging that Kate has been well enough to make the trip to Sandringham,” she concluded. “It shows that she is making a steady recovery. Also, the change will probably be most welcome… the same four walls must get a bit tedious when you are recuperating as she is.”