Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
Prince William’s decision to clear the decks and abandon all royal duties while Princess Kate convalesces from abdominal surgery is a clear sign of the importance they both attach to “putting their family first,” friends, insiders and royal observers have told The Daily Beast.
However, some sources said they hoped that William would make an effort to return to some public-facing duties later this month to reassure the public that Kate’s condition is being “adequately managed,” that her recovery is on track and there is no cause for alarm.
Former royal editor of the Sun, Duncan Larcombe, told The Daily Beast: “The whole of their focus is on her recovery and their family right now. This is a big change in protocol: it’s not really the done thing in royal circles to be seen to be taking great swathes of time off for a mere illness. You keep going. Just look at the queen; even when she was dying, she would get it together for five minutes and walk out onto the balcony and wave. The queen mother had breast cancer in the late 70s—but that didn’t emerge until after her death in 2002! Any suggestion that Prince Philip was ever seriously ill was always aggressively denied by Buckingham Palace.