It was “devastating” for William to learn of Middleton’s diagnosis so soon after King Charles’s own cancer.

When Prince William found out that Kate Middleton had cancer, he wasn’t just heartbroken—according to royal author Robert Jobson, the Prince of Wales was “completely crestfallen” to find out that his wife was sick right after learning that King Charles was also ill with cancer.

“It was devastating for him,” Jobson, who recently released Catherine, the Princess of Wales, told Us Weekly.

The royal author speculated that William likely had “a lump in [his] throat” or “the empty feeling in his stomach” once it became clear that Middleton also was sick with cancer. With both Charles and his wife unwell, the double diagnoses “wobbled him, there’s no doubt about that.”

Charles and the Princess of Wales, on the other hand, were “very stoic” after finding out that they had cancer. Instead of immediately panicking, Jobson revealed that they both appealed to William to pick up their slack while they focus on recovery. “’We need you now to stand up to the plate,’” the pair reportedly told William.

“[Kate] has been good in making sure that that happens,” Jobson added. “She’s shown him that she’s there for him as well as him there for her.”

The latest update about how Middleton is dealing with cancer came earlier this week, courtesy of Jobson—the author revealed that she has been staying calm amid treatment and is taking treatment day by day.

“She’s a person who wants to find solutions and rise above the noise and the drama, and I think, given what she’s gone through, you don’t want to waste any time on noise, on drama, when you’ve had anything to do with your health,” he told Hello! “You live day by day; you do the things you want to do.”