Kate, the , said Friday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Her condition was disclosed in a video message recorded on Wednesday and broadcast Friday, coming after weeks of speculation on social media about her whereabouts and health since she was hospitalized in January for unspecified .
Kate asked for 鈥渢ime, space and privacy鈥� while she is treated for an unspecified type of cancer, which was discovered after her surgery.
鈥淚 am well,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal.鈥�
Kate, 42, hadn鈥檛 been seen publicly since Christmas until video surfaced this week of her with her husband, Prince William, heir to the throne, walking from a farm shop near their Windsor home.
Kensington Palace had given little detail about Kate鈥檚 condition beyond saying it wasn鈥檛 cancer-related, the surgery was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April. Kate said it had been thought that her condition was non-cancerous until tests revealed the diagnosis.
鈥淭his of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,鈥� she said.
The news is another stunning development for the royal family since the announcement last month that was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer that was caught while undergoing a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement that Kate 鈥渉as shown tremendous bravery.鈥� He added: 鈥淚n recent weeks she has been subjected to intense scrutiny and has been unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media.鈥�
Charles, 75, has withdrawn from public duties while he has cancer treatment, though he鈥檚 appeared frequently in photos carrying on meetings with government officials and dignitaries and was even seen going to church.
Kate, on the other hand, had been out of view, leading to weeks of . Attempts to put rumors to bed by releasing a photo of her on Mother鈥檚 Day in the U.K. surrounded by her three smiling children backfired when The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted the image because it had been manipulated.
Kate the next day acknowledging she liked to 鈥渆xperiment with editing鈥� and apologizing for 鈥渁ny confusion鈥� the photo had caused. But that did little to quell the speculation.
Even the footage published by The Sun and TMZ that appeared to show Kate and William shopping sparked a new flurry of rumor-mongering, with some armchair sleuths refusing to believe the video showed Kate at all.
Earlier this week, a British privacy watchdog said it was investigating a report that staff at the private London hospital where she was treated tried to snoop on her medical records while she was a patient for
The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.
The princess is the oldest of three children brought up in a well-to-do neighborhood in Berkshire, west of London. The Middletons have no aristocratic background, and the British press often referred to Kate as a 鈥渃ommoner鈥� marrying into royalty.
Kate attended the private girls鈥� school Marlborough College and then University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she met William around 2001. Friends and housemates at first, their relationship came to be in the public eye when they were pictured together on a skiing holiday in Switzerland in 2004.
Kate graduated in 2005 with a degree in art history and a budding relationship with the prince.
