Kate and William 'extremely moved' by support since the Princess of Wales' cancer revelation

Kate and William ‘extremely moved’ by support since the Princess of Wales’ cancer revelation

1 of 22 |

FILE - Kate, Princess of Wales and Prince William travel in a coach following the coronation ceremony of Britain’s King Charles III in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Cliff, File)

2 of 22 |

Flowers are left outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

3 of 22 |

A montage of the front pages of some of Britain’s Sunday newspapers pictured in London, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Support has poured in from around the world for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after she revealed in a candid video message that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

4 of 22 |

Flowers and a letter to the Princess of Wales were left outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

5 of 22 |

Newly-weds walk through the Union Jack flags decorated street near Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

6 of 22 |

7 of 22 |

8 of 22 |

Journalists wait outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

9 of 22 |

FILE - Britain’s Kate, then the Duchess of Cambridge is reflected in a glass at right, with Family Action CEO David Holmes, obscured, as they speak with people supported by the charity, during a visit to Family Action in south London Tuesday Jan. 22, 2019. (Adrian Dennis / POOL via AP, File)

10 of 22 |

Newspaper front-pages are seen at a newsagent in London, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/David Cliff)

11 of 22 |

Media waits outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

12 of 22 |

Union Jack flags are decorated in a street in Windsor, England, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales’s revelation she is undergoing treatment for cancer has sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes from around the world. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

13 of 22 |

FILE - Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales leave after they paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall for the Lying-in State, in London, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

14 of 22 |

FILE - Kate, then the Duchess of Cambridge, center, stands in the paddock on the fourth day of the Royal Ascot horserace meeting, at Ascot Racecourse, in Ascot, England, Friday, June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

15 of 22 |

Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge attends a reception for parents of users of a Centre for Early Childhood, on the day of the launch of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood at Kensington Palace in London, Friday, June 18, 2021. (Tolga Akmen/Pool Photo via AP, File)

16 of 22 |

FILE - From left, Britain’s Prince George, Kate Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Louis, Prince William and Princess Charlotte, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot, England, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP, File)

17 of 22 |

Kate, Princess of Wales, centre, waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace with Prince William, right, Princess Charlotte, down left, and Prince Louis, down centre, during the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III, in London, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP, File)

18 of 22 |

Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, right, walks with the bridesmaids and pageboys as they arrive for her sister Pippa Middleton’s wedding to James Matthews, at St Mark’s Church in Englefield, England, Saturday, May 20, 2017. (Justin Tallis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

19 of 22 |

Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales, attends the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool, File)

20 of 22 |

This grab taken from a video released by the BBC Studios on Friday March 22, 2024, shows Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales recording her message announcing that following her abdominal surgery in January “tests after the operation found cancer had been present.” Kate, said Friday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. (BBC Studios via AP)

21 of 22 |

Two tourists pose against the gates to Kensington Palace in London Sunday, March 24, 2024. Support has poured in from around the world for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after she revealed in a candid video message that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

22 of 22 |

Tourists pose for a photograph in front of the main gates to Buckingham Palace in London Sunday, March 24, 2024. Support has poured in from around the world for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after she revealed in a candid video message that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

By PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince William, are said to be “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support following her shocking cancer announcement as tributes continued to pour in Sunday from around the world.

After weeks of frenzied speculation on social media about her health and well-being, Kate said in a candid video message on Friday that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. The 42-year-old princess said the cancer discovery was a “huge shock” and she was now in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy.

“The prince and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the U.K., across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message,” a spokesperson for Kensington Palace said. “They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”

There has been a global outpouring of support, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, and King Charles III who is also undergoing treatment for cancer, which was found after he was undertaking treatment for an enlarged prostate. Neither Kate nor the king have revealed what type of cancer they have or the stage at which it was being treated.

Not PARSE.LY: Royalty

Hank Aaron Awards

King Charles III and Kate attend remembrance event as both slowly return to duty

Prince William wraps up his South Africa trip with visit that reminded him of his rescue pilot days

Charles’ nephew, Peter Phillips, said the king is “frustrated” that his recovery is taking longer than “he would want it to,” but that he was in “good spirits” and “pushing” his staff to be able to return to his duties after beginning his treatment for cancer last month.

“I think ultimately he’s hugely frustrated,” Phillips, the son of Charles’s sister Princess Anne, told Sky News Australia. “He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do. But he is very pragmatic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself.”

People continued to flock Sunday to the royal’s main London residence, Kensington Palace, as well as to Windsor Castle, where they spend most of their time, to show support for the princess, with many leaving flowers.

Until Friday, officials had only said Kate’s surgery in January was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April. This has sparked a flurry of rumor-mongering about the “missing” future queen, compounded after Kate acknowledged that she altered an official photo released to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. earlier this month.

The photo, meant to reassure the public, triggered a backlash after The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted it over manipulation concerns.

Even a video published last week by The Sun and TMZ that appeared to show Kate and William shopping near their home didn’t dispel the negative coverage.

Criticism of those jumping to sometime-outlandish conclusions continued to be voiced over the weekend.

Paddy Harverson, previously the official spokesman of Kate and the Prince of Wales, said that the speculation and pressure around Kate’s health and whereabouts before her video statement was “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

However, he said he thought Kate would have revealed her cancer diagnosis exactly as she had, regardless of what was being speculated.

“I’m absolutely convinced that if we hadn’t had all the madness and social media, if we hadn’t had the sort of the Mother’s Day photo mistake, they would have still done it like this,” he told the BBC. “They would have still waited till this last Friday when the schools are breaking up to make the announcement.”

PAN PYLAS

Testing short biography