LONDON – The following are some facts about Catherine, Princess of Wales and wife of Britain’s heir to the throne, Prince William.

She announced in a video message on March 22 that she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer was found following an operation earlier this year.

Early life

The eldest of three children, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, 42, was born on Jan 9, 1982, into a middle-class family from Berkshire, west of London.

Her father Michael worked as a pilot and her mother Carole as an airline stewardess before setting up a mail-order business selling party supplies.

As a young child, she lived with her family in Amman in Jordan for more than two years before they returned to Britain. 

A royal romance

Popularly known as Kate, she attended Marlborough College, a private school in south-west England, and met her future husband at St Andrews University in Scotland in 2001, where she read history of art. They lived together in a house shared with friends.

By April 2004, their relationship became public, as she went skiing with Prince William, his younger brother Prince Harry and their father – now King Charles – on their annual trip to Switzerland.

They briefly split up in 2007 after Prince William was posted around the country as part of his military training, before rekindling their relationship. 

Their engagement was announced in November 2010, with Prince William giving Kate his mother's engagement ring featuring a blue sapphire, surrounded with diamonds.

They married on April 29, 2011 in Westminster Abbey.

Royal life

On her wedding day, Kate was made Duchess of Cambridge after her husband was given a dukedom. On the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, Prince William was named Prince of Wales following the ascension of King Charles to the throne. She was given the title Princess of Wales.

She spent four days in hospital with severe morning sickness in December 2012. The couple's first child, Prince George, was born on July 22, 2013, in a blaze of global publicity. Daughter Charlotte was born on May 2, 2015, and second son Louis arrived on April 23, 2018. 

Kate and Prince William began their married life living in a cottage in a remote part of north Wales and later moved to Anmer Hall, their country mansion on the monarch’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England, to fit in with his job as a helicopter ambulance pilot.

They moved to Kensington Palace in London when he took on royal duties full time in July 2017. They now mainly reside at a cottage on the Windsor estate to the west of London, close to where their children attend school.

She had successful planned abdominal surgery in January and spent two weeks in hospital. No details were given but at the time Kensington Palace said the condition was non-cancerous.

Campaigns and activities

As a royal, her main campaigning focus has been around the experiences of early childhood, as well as mental health issues.

She is a keen amateur photographer, and pictures she took of her family have regularly been released to media to celebrate her children’s birthdays and other notable events. 

On March 11, she apologised for "any confusion" caused by an edited photograph issued by Kensington Palace, at a point when she had not been seen for weeks after her initial surgery.

She is patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Wimbledon and the Lawn Tennis Association as well as patron of the England Rugby Football Union. REUTERS