After spending 2024 grappling with Kate Middleton’s cancer treatment, she and Prince William are reassessing their priorities for the year ahead.
Sources close to the couple opened up to the Daily Mail‘s royal correspondent, Rebecca English about how Kate’s health struggles have put things in perspective for the Prince and Princess of Wales—and made them more determined than ever to protect their children as much as possible.
“It’s impossible to go through that kind of trauma and not to be changed as a person,” friends of the couple told English of the far-reaching impact of Kate’s cancer battle on both her and Will.
While Kate is reportedly planning to continue increasing her public appearances and royal duties in 2025, that doesn’t mean she’ll jump back in quickly to her pre-diagnosis routine. Instead, English’s sources stress that, “There is no huge reset button that’s going to be hit in January” and “what we will actually see is a slow continuation of the Princess balancing her recovery and her public-facing duties.“
Bigger than the shift in how Kate will approach the logistics of her schedule, however, is the shift in the Wales’ priorities going forward—and how they’ll approach their dual roles as working royals and devoted parents to their three children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.
“Cancer impacts on your perspective, and what you have seen in the decisions they have made over the last year is that family and their children continue to be at the center of their universe,” a royal source told English. “Both Their Royal Highnesses have a strong commitment to duty, service and using their platform for good. But what they are working on is ways they can balance themselves as parents with being the Prince and Princess of Wales.”
One big way this change in perspective will likely be apparent is in Will and Kate’s travel plans for 2025, which are unlikely to include any long trips away from the U.K.—for either of them.
While Kate has “no plans—yet—for any full-scale foreign royal tour,” she “may join her husband on one short trip, should she feel up to it,” according to English. As for Will, he’s expected to go on a “handful” of solo trips abroad in the coming months (which, English notes, is “another sign of Catherine’s progress”), but even his trips are “likely to be shorter two- or three-day visits.”
“Everyone is adjusting the dial,” a source said, which English interprets as confirmation that “the Waleses will strive to not be away from home extensively.
Still, English’s sources stress that this doesn’t mean Will and Kate will be pulling back on their royal commitments—sources say they’ll do the opposite, in fact, but the mantra for 2025 is “more but measured.”
“As Catherine herself said, she’s looking forward to the future with hope and a new appreciation of life,” one source who knows the Princess of Wales well said, pointing out that she’s in a “much, much better space” compare to this time last year. “However, she has also had little choice but to take a step back and focus on herself, which inevitably has led her to reassess where their priorities lie.”
