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Protecting Children From Cancer News
00:07:22
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| Well some extraordinary breaking news tonight from Catherine the Princess of Wales who in a very personal video has revealed that she is having treatment now for cancer. | |
| We don't know what type of cancer but she says that at the start of a year she had this abdominal surgery that we know about and that in the process of that they discovered that she had had some form of cancer. | |
| They found cancerous cells and she's now embarking on chemotherapy which she couldn't do until she'd recovered from the initial abdominal surgery. | |
| She made a very personal statement in which she was very open, very frank, very courageous and very dignified, I thought. | |
| Also paid great tribute to her husband Prince William who let's not forget is going through the double health heartache of his father, the King Charles III also having cancer. | |
| So I'm joined by Sarah Houston, the Royal Editor for Talk TV. | |
| Sarah, a very busy night for you, I think, from now on. | |
| But let's just talk about this remarkable statement. | |
| We got wind of it about an hour before it happened, that it was being released, I think initially to the BBC. | |
| I was watching it live when it happened and there was Kate. | |
| There was Catherine, the Princess of Wales in a garden setting on a bench, speaking directly to the world in a way that I've never seen her before do this, or in fact, I can't remember many royals ever doing this, and being remarkably candid about what's been going on. | |
| Yes, and this was a video that was filmed on Wednesday, Piers. | |
| I understand it was done in one take. | |
| The Princess of Wales speaking directly to Camera and addressing the public and giving the details of her diagnosis, which, as she said, has come as a huge shock to them. | |
| She talked about what an incredibly tough few months it has been for her and the whole family. | |
| And she described the main focus for her and William, which has been about protecting their children, George, Charlotte and Louis. | |
| And the reason why this video was released tonight is because the children broke up from school earlier on this afternoon for their Easter holidays. | |
| And William and Kate decided that they could then make this public in the knowledge that they could shield their children from it. | |
| They've explained it to them in the best way that they can, in the most appropriate way, given their young ages. | |
| Catherine said how she has told them, I'm well, I'm going to be okay, and that she has reassured the children. | |
| And I think this statement really summed up what this family is all about for them, which is protecting those children. | |
| And Piers, we've talked about that over the past few weeks and months, that those three children are everything. | |
| And every decision that is made by William and Kate is about putting those children first. | |
| And this is exactly that. | |
| What it will do, of course, it will hopefully put a stop to the absolute tsunami of increasingly crazy conspiracy theories. | |
| And, you know, I was reminded tonight that some of the American talk show hosts in particular have been in the last few weeks openly mocking the Waleses over their marriage, for example. | |
| That now looks particularly distasteful in light of what we know they've been going through. | |
| I think there will be some people feeling mightily ashamed for the way in which they have approached this over the past few weeks in particular, Piers, with that feverish speculation about where is Kate. | |
| And she's explained it very clearly in this, while not directly acknowledging the conspiracy theories. | |
| She's made it very clear that it has taken her time. | |
| She needed time, firstly, to recover physically from the abdominal surgery in order for her to be in a state to start the preventative chemotherapy, which she now began at the end of February. | |
| But also to be able to process this emotionally. | |
| She talked about what a shock it had been. | |
| She talked about the comfort of having William by her side. | |
| Again, you know, speculation about the state of their marriage. | |
| Well, very, very clear that this has been a couple who have been very, very closely united on this. | |
| Also, those questions over Prince William's absence from his godfather's memorial service. | |
| We now know that it was that day when Kate received her cancer diagnosis shortly before William was due to leave for that memorial service. | |
| And that is why he pulled out of that event and cited personal matters. | |
| And that is why it was such a last-minute decision. | |
| Now, at the time, Kensington Palace had said that Kate was continuing to recover well. | |
| And it wasn't clear whether that decision was made because of Kate. | |
| We now know the truth of that, that it was all about being with his wife and entirely the right and entirely an understandable decision to want to support his wife. | |
| And also to deal with his own shock as the news. | |
| As you said, this double news for him, his father and his wife, both now suffering from cancer. | |
| Could they have handled this any differently? | |
| I mean, it's been a crazy few weeks. | |
| I can't remember anything quite like this since the days when Diana was alive. | |
| And it's really a signal of just how big a star in the royal firmament Kate is and how important she is to the royal family and to the brand of the royal family and indeed the monarchy. | |
| But some people may say, well, could they have said something a bit earlier to quash all the conspiracy theories? | |
| We've had the video, of course, of them at a farm shop. | |
| We had the picture taken by Paparazzi of her in a car going to school with her mother and so on. | |
| Should they have said something earlier? | |
| Or do you think that given what we now know about what they've been going through and in particular what she said about the kids and wanting them quite obviously, I mean, I'm a father of four kids. | |
| I would want mine to be the absolute priority in a situation like this. | |
| Do you think that this has been really what's been going on behind the scenes the entire time? | |
| I don't think anyone can question their decision making now when Catherine has set it out so clearly that the reason why this decision has this news has been announced now was because they wanted to protect their children. | |
| They had to tell them in their own time. | |
| They needed to give them space and time to process it. | |
| And they wanted to do it when they could protect the children and I guess preserve them in their own little bubble, away from school, away from the questions that they might be asked that they wouldn't be there to give the answers to. | |
| And very clearly, they've thought long and hard about how they've communicated this to the children. | |
| I mean, little Louis, just five years old, George, 10 years old, they're not old at all. | |
| My children are very similar age and I can only begin to imagine how difficult it has been for them to give the children that news and not to frighten them, to want to reassure them. | |
| As Catherine said, I told them I'm doing well and I'm going to be okay. | |
| And I think knowing that, we can understand now why they were so desperate to protect themselves, to preserve their privacy. | |
| But also, let's not forget, they didn't know this initially. | |
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Surgery Reveals Hidden Diagnosis
00:00:26
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| She had abdominal surgery on the 16th of January. | |
| And at the time, before the surgery, the tests had not shown any signs of cancer. | |
| She then went in for major abdominal surgery. | |
| And it was the post-operative tests that detected there had been cancer there. | |
| And so they've had a double whammy again here with that first news that she needed surgery and then to find out, much to their shock, that actually she had got cancer. | |