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For Kate Middleton and Prince William, royal duties take a back seat to parenting their children, as shown by how William stepped back from his duties during the princess’ cancer treatments, according to a royal author.
“Behind the scenes, for William it was brutal,” Russell Myers, royal editor of The Mirror and author of “William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story” told the Manchester Evening News.
Myers said William felt like “the rug had been pulled from under him” after Middleton and his father, King Charles III, were both diagnosed with cancer early in 2024.
“He was having to manage all these emotions that, you know, what was he going to do to look after his wife first and foremost?” Myers said. “How would he be there for his father? But what duties was he going to have to take on? Was his public role going to change as well?”
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For Kate Middleton and Prince William, royal duties take a back seat to parenting their children, as evidenced by how William stepped back from his royal duties during the princess’ cancer treatments last year, according to a royal author. ( Jonathan Brady – Pool/Getty Images)
However, Myers said, “over all of this was his deep concern for his three children.”
“And I think by seeing him step away from public duties, it tells you a lot about William and Catherine as people, because it’s always been family first for them,” he said, adding that “duty is important to them, but it has to come second in respect to their family, because if they get the family right then everything will follow.”
In an excerpt of his book out in March, Myers wrote that the Prince and Princess of Wales sat their children down to explain to them what was happening.
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“‘When Catherine went in, he was fairly resolute,’ said a close aide,” the excerpt of the book read, referring to her two-week January 2024 hospitalization for what was described by the palace as a “planned abdominal surgery.” “‘They both very calmly told the children what was going on and how long Catherine would need to be away for, but explained other than that everything would continue as normal and when she came home, she would need to rest up for a bit.’”
Prince William and Kate Middleton on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in June 2025. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Myers wrote that Middleton kept in touch with her family while at the hospital through video calls, “catching up on what George, Charlotte and Louis had been doing at school and asking if ‘Papa’ had been able to cook for them while she had been away.”
“At that time,