The Princess of Wales has been MIA since the Wimbledon men’s final, and I doubt we’ll see her in public until she and Prince William drop off Prince George at Eton. Maybe we’ll see her in a car in Scotland, but we’re probably pushing it. My point is that there’s a real dearth of royal gossip about William and Kate specifically right now, which probably explains why People Magazine decided to give us some new quotes from an appearance Kate made in June. On June 4th, Kate visited The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, and she met with cancer patients and the oncology team. It turns out that Kate also revealed that she had difficulty reading while she was receiving treatment in 2024.
Kate Middleton turned to her creative side to help cope with cancer treatment. During a visit to the Christie cancer care hospital last month, the Princess of Wales, 44, spoke with some of the patients about her own experience with chemotherapy, revealing how the treatment left her struggling to focus.
“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have the ability to read or really focus on anything,” she recalled, as seen in a video shared on social media.
“[Coloring] was my way of exploring interesting things and being able to do something that did not require an end product, or an end finished piece,” she added. “[It was] just a way of playing and losing yourself.”
Cognitive dysfunction, trouble focusing or clouded thinking during chemotherapy treatments is common among many cancer patients. Commonly referred to as “chemo fog” or “chemo brain,” the Mayo Clinic says that “experts don’t fully know the causes of these concentration and memory changes” and that it’s likely caused by a combination of factors, such as chemicals from both treatment and the cancer itself, stress, pain, sleep issues and more.
Prince William also revealed in 2016 that his wife was a fan of adult coloring books when he presented illustrator Johanna Basford with the OBE for her services to art and entrepreneurship.
“Prince William actually said that his wife likes to color in Secret Garden, which was really sweet,” Basford told reporters. The following year, a Kate-themed coloring book was even available to purchase at Kensington Palace.
This is just a reminder that I don’t have a particularly good excuse for why I don’t read all of the books I buy for myself. I read the book blurb and think “oh, that will be a good weekend read” and then I just…never read it. I’ve still got Yesteryear sitting beside my bed, completely unopened. I started the latest John Grisham book and I lost interest in it in, like, 50 pages? My excuse could possibly be perimenopausal brain fog. And I honestly think that might be a factor for Kate as well, though she would be loath to speak about her blessed hormones. In general, though, it feels like neither Kate nor William are big on reading. They don’t read for fun, they don’t have book clubs, they are not intellectually curious, they don’t read briefing memos or anything for work. It’s been that way for years now, even before Kate’s 2024 treatments.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
