London: Princess Kate Middleton arrives at Buckingham Palace in her first public appearance on Saturday since her cancer diagnosis following an abdominal surgery five months ago. Kate, wearing a pale outfit, rode in a carriage with her children at the "Trooping the Colour", an annual military parade held in central London to mark the official birthday of the British monarch, King Charles.
The Princess of Wales joined other members of the royal family on a Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the King's Birthday Parade. She watched the ceremony with the children from the window of a building overlooking the Horse Guards Parade, a ceremonial parade ground in central London.
In a rare message on Friday, Kate said she was making "good progress" in her preventative chemotherapy that was disclosed to the public in March, ahead of her first public appearance in months. Kate said she had been "blown away" by the thousands of kind messages from across the globe following her cancer revelation.
"I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days," her statement said. "On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well."
Her improved health means she can appear in public for the first time since last December when she joined other senior royals for an annual Christmas Day church service. She will also join King Charles, Queen Camilla and the other senior family members on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, the high-profile pinnacle of the event.
'Not out of the woods': Kate Middleton
Despite an improvement in her health since the cancer diagnosis, the Princess of Wales said she was "not out of the woods" yet. While Kate said she was hoping to take part in other events this year, aides cautioned that Saturday did not mark a return to a full schedule of work.
"My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months. On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home. I’m looking forward to attending The King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet," she said in her message.
Kate spent two weeks in hospital in January after she underwent major abdominal surgery, and two months later she announced in a video message that tests had revealed the presence of cancer, and she would begin preventative chemotherapy. Her office, Kensington Palace, has declined to give further details about the type of cancer or about her treatment, other than to say the preventative chemotherapy had begun in February.
On hearing about the news of her improved health, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the whole country would be behind Kate, adding her statement was brave, honest and "wonderful" news. "I'm sure it will bring an enormous amount of comfort to so many other people who are grappling with similar health challenges...I think she deserves enormous praise for what she said and it'll be great to see her there tomorrow," he said at the G7 Summit in Italy on Friday.
India extends wishes to King Charles III
Spectators will be treated to a display of pomp and precision involving more than 1,000 soldiers, 250 military musicians and more than 200 horses. The horse participants will include Trojan, Tennyson, and Vanquish, three of the five military horses who sparked mayhem in April when they bolted and ran loose through central London.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also extended his wishes on the occasion, sending warm greetings to UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron on the official birthday of King Charles III. "Greatly value our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and our strong people-to-people ties," he added.
In one of the many quirks of British royal convention, Saturday is not the king's real birthday -– that's in November. Like his mother Queen Elizabeth II before him, Charles has an official birthday on the second Saturday in June. The date was chosen because the weather is generally good although with chances of rain.
Both King Charles and Kate have been largely absent from the public stage since January due to health problems, leaving Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and other members of the royal family to pick up the slack on the whirl of events and awards ceremonies that dominate the work of Britain's monarchy. There had been massive speculation over Kate's health after a photograph uploaded by the Palace was found to be "heavily edited" and retracted from international news agencies, for which Kate had to apologise.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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