Last month, the Princess of Wales released an emotional video to mark the end of her chemotherapy treatment – and her latest move has seen her honour her poignant words in the clip
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Kate Middleton shares cancer update in personal video message
The Princess of Wales made a surprise appearance to mark her first royal duty since completing her chemotherapy treatment.
Earlier this week, Kate was seen embracing a teenager with a rare form of cancer after she received a special invitation to Windsor Castle. Budding photographer Liz Hatton, from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, was given rare permission to shoot pictures behind the scenes of an investiture ceremony carried out by Prince William.
In a personal message on social media, William and Kate said: “A pleasure to meet with Liz at Windsor today. A talented young photographer whose creativity and strength has inspired us both. Thank you for sharing your photos and story with us. W&C.”
And it seems the touching gesture by Kate as well as William shows she’s keeping a poignant promise she made in an emotional video last month. In that video, Kate’s heartfelt message about her cancer journey is spoken over images showing the Waleses and their children enjoying the outdoors, walking through woods and the couple shown cuddling as they hold hands.
She describes the past nine months since her serious health issues began as “incredibly tough for us as a family” and how the “cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone”, with the experience giving her a “new perspective on everything.” It ended with the princess’ words of reassurance and promise for others who are still being treated for cancer: “To all those who are continuing their own cancer journey – I remain with you, side by side, hand in hand.”
Speaking to the Mirror yesterday, Liz, 16, revealed what it was like to be speaking to the future King and Queen. She explained: “There was nothing about them that suggested they were superior. They were just really human, to be honest and really natural. There was never a moment of awkwardness. It was normal to talk to them. They talked a lot about my photography.”
She said the princess talked a “little bit” about her love of photography and she asked about what camera she uses, which is a Canon. Liz, who has been through ten rounds of gruelling chemotherapy, also told the Mirror how her surprise meeting with the couple left her shell-shocked. “It wasn’t even on my bucket list, it was way too big. I never thought I would get to do anything as massive as this,” she said.
When I did my bucket list I just put some ideas down that I didn’t even think any of these things would happen.” She was invited to Windsor Castle after the royal couple were told about her ‘bucket list’ by a contact at the London Air Ambulance.
“My mum told me that someone from the air ambulance crew had contacted the palace and was trying to arrange something,” Liz said. “But at that point, I was completely convinced that absolutely nothing would come of it because I am just some random girl from North Yorkshire and they’re the royal family.”
A few months ago, she said a similar event had been planned but “unfortunately my treatment got in the way of that”. “But they were just so lovely and they promised to reschedule and stay in touch which they did and a few weeks ago they got back in touch and said there was another opportunity so obviously we jumped on it because we could,” the teen said.
“Since then they’ve explained everything to us before it happened except for meeting them – which we completely didn’t know about! We had no idea we would be meeting the Prince and Princess until they walked through the door. I was quite shell-shocked, to be honest, the whole day was jaw-dropping. But that moment was just insane. It was really special because they were just so kind.”
