After a tumultuous year, the Princess of Wales turns 43 today, with the Prince of Wales praising his partner of more than two decades across Kensington Palace’s socials. “To the most incredible wife and mother,” William captioned a monochrome image of Kate taken by royal photographer Matt Porteous. “The strength you’ve shown over the last year has been remarkable. George, Charlotte, Louis, and I are so proud of you. Happy Birthday, Catherine. We love you. W.”
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It’s an unusually personal message from the prince, but one that chimes with the Waleses’ newfound candor following the princess’s cancer diagnosis and recovery over the course of 2024. When, in June, Kate announced that she would be attending Trooping the Colour, she followed the official Kensington Palace announcement with an intimate letter about her journey through treatment and a photograph of herself beneath a willow tree near her Windsor home of Adelaide Cottage. “As anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good and bad days,” she wrote. “On those bad days, you feel weak, tired, and you have to give into your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”
For the princess, making the most of feeling well meant appearances at some of her favorite events, including Wimbledon (Kate is the royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club), but primarily involved being with her husband and children in the countryside, far away from the fishbowl of Kensington Gardens. When she confirmed she had completed her cancer treatment in September, she did so with an uncharacteristically candid video message filmed on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
So, what will 2025 hold for the Waleses? For the princess, something closer to business as usual, with Kate expected to make appearances at most of the major events in the royal calendar, from Royal Ascot to Remembrance Sunday. That said, it’s believed that she will carry out fewer engagements than in previous years—focusing on making a full recovery and spending as much time as possible with her children in the relative quiet of Berkshire and Norfolk. Meanwhile, the king and queen will be marking their 20th wedding anniversary on April 9—which William and Kate will likely celebrate with them privately—and George will be off to secondary school in September.
It remains to be seen whether the prince will follow in his father’s footsteps by matriculating at Eton, or whether he will attend a day school instead, as rumored. The latter would mark a break with tradition, yes—but the Prince of Wales has been clear that he and the princess are keen to take the Firm in a new direction on both a public and personal level. “I can only describe what I’m trying to do, and that I’m trying to do it differently, and I’m trying to do it for my generation,” William told reporters assembled for the Earthshot Prize Awards in Cape Town last year. “And to give you more of an understanding around it, I’m doing it with maybe a smaller ‘r’ in the royal, if you like.”