Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Last 5 Years “Have Been a Nightmare for Them”

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All that has transpired “either crushes a marriage, or it brings them together.”

When people think about five years ago in the royal family, they likely think of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who stepped away from life as working royals in 2020 and relocated from the U.K. to the U.S.

It is certainly not a competition (just so we're clear), but Prince William and Kate Middleton, too, have endured so much in that same timeframe: the deaths of both Prince Philip in 2021 and Queen Elizabeth in 2022; their elevated role as Prince and Princess of Wales following the Queen’s passing; and then 2024, which saw both Kate and King Charles diagnosed with cancer. It was a year William referred to as “brutal” last November, one that he called the hardest of his life. 

Speaking to People for the magazine’s cover story released March 19, royal historian Amanda Foreman said a year like 2024 “either crushes a marriage, or it brings them together.”

In the Prince and Princess of Wales’ case, it seems to have brought them closer together, both proverbially and even literally, as they’ve never been so open with public displays of affection as they have been as of late.

“There is a sense of protectiveness and partnership,” Foreman said. “The last five years have been a nightmare for them in every possible way—the past year even more so.”

Of last year, Jason Knauf, William and Kate’s former private secretary, told 60 Minutes Australia last month, “If you’re Prince William, you find out that both your wife and your father have cancer” contributed to it being the “lowest” Knauf has ever seen the future king.

In January, Kate announced that she is in remission from cancer, and is making her gradual return to annual royal events, including this month’s Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey and the Irish Guards’ St. Patrick’s Day parade. While neither Kate nor William will ever likely be the person they were before 2024—and that’s okay—normalcy seems to be returning for the couple as they get back to their royal routine while also being mindful of all they’ve learned from the past year. (March 22 marks one year since Kate made a video announcement telling the world that she had been diagnosed with cancer following major abdominal surgery in January.)

William and Kate’s return in full is “just in time, frankly,” Foreman told People. “If there was ever a time when the country required stability, this is it.”

“The international stage is so unstable, it is rather extraordinary to see how both have risen to the occasion,” she added.

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