Catherine Elizabeth Middleton (42 years old), the Princess of Wales and wife of British heir Prince William, revealed in a video message yesterday that she is undergoing preventive chemotherapy after discovering she has cancer following abdominal surgery in January. Elizabeth Middleton is the eldest daughter among three children, born in Berkshire, West London, on January 9, 1982, into a non-aristocratic middle-class family.
People magazine published a report about her life, noting that Kate moved with her family to Jordan at the age of two due to her father Michael Middleton's job with British Airways, where the Middleton family lived abroad for two and a half years, leading the future princess to attend nursery there.
Kate attended Marlborough College, a private school in southwest England, where she met her future husband at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001, where she studied the history of art. They lived together with friends.
Kate spent two years in Jordan; her father Michael worked as a pilot while her mother Carole was a flight attendant before starting a mail-order company selling party supplies. They lived in Amman, Jordan, for more than two years before returning to Britain.
By April 2004, their relationship became public when she went skiing with William, his younger brother Harry, and their father, now King Charles, on their annual trip to Switzerland. They briefly separated in 2007 while William was serving in various parts of the country as part of his military training before rekindling their relationship.
They announced their engagement in November 2010, with William gifting Kate the famous ring of his mother, Princess Diana, featuring a blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds. They were married on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony watched by people worldwide.
Kate and William began their married life in a rural home in a remote area of North Wales before moving to Anmer Hall, their country estate located in the Sandringham royal estate in Norfolk, East England, to accommodate William's role as an air ambulance pilot.
They moved to live at Kensington Palace in central London after William took on full royal duties in July 2017. The couple primarily resides in a country house in the Windsor area west of London, near their children's school.
Kate underwent successful abdominal surgery last January and spent two weeks in the hospital. Although details were not disclosed, Kensington Palace stated that the condition was not cancerous.
Kate is an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and the media often publishes the family photos she captures to celebrate her children's birthdays and other important events.
In her first appearance revealing her health condition, the Princess of Wales stated: "I have cancer… I’m in the early stages of chemotherapy." She concluded her message by saying, "Right now, I need to focus on my full recovery, and at this time, I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. To anyone facing this disease in any way, please do not lose faith or hope, you are not alone."
