Palace Aide Shares Kate Middleton Post-Surgery Recovery Update

Kate Middleton may have been out of the public eye since news of her “planned abdominal surgery” in January, the recovery from which will keep her absent from official engagements and public events until Easter, but she is far from out of mind. A palace aide provided a brief update on how the Princess of Wales is doing when asked at an event at Windsor Castle Tuesday, saying, “The Princess of Wales continues to be doing well.”

As previously expected, Middleton was absent from the event, a memorial service for Greece’s King Constantine II, who died in January 2023 at the age of 82. An unexpected absence, however, surfaced at the last minute: Middleton’s husband, Prince William. William had been scheduled to deliver a reading at the memorial service, as Constantine was his godfather and a close friend of his father, King Charles III. William’s surprise absence has only been attributed to “personal reasons,” and sources said that he called the Greek royal family ahead of the event to apologize for his change of plans.

Charles, too, was missing from the service as expected, due to his ongoing treatment after a surprise cancer diagnosis announced in January. The monarch is officially back at work, but his public schedule remains up in the air pending treatment and his medical team’s advice.

Middleton, 42, has been recovering from her procedure at Adelaide Cottage, the couple’s residence at the royal family’s Windsor Castle estate, since she was discharged from a London hospital after a week-plus inpatient stay following the surgery. The palace has not disclosed more specific information about what her procedure was, or any conditions that necessitated it, apart from the nature of it being non-cancerous. It is unknown whether William’s absence from Tuesday’s memorial service was related to the ongoing health issues of his wife or father.