It has been 80 days since Kate Middleton had planned abdominal surgery, and she has not yet returned to royal duties. A columnist says her disappearance from public life is “painfully obvious” as the House of Windsor moves forward into its busiest season without her.

There’s a Kate-shaped hole within the royal family as their most hectic months begin
Kate Middleton underwent abdominal surgery in January 2024. She remained out of the public eye, save for one photo to commemorate the UK Mother’s Day, until late March. Then, Kate shared a video statement regarding her health.

“On Monday, Buckingham and Kensington Palaces face a milestone Kate moment,” Elser noted. “There was a time period of exactly 80 days between the King’s shocking revelation on 5 February and then the massive sigh of relief on 26 April. Given Kate announced her own diagnosis on 22 March, that means she will pass the 80-day mark, you guessed it, today.”

“In the nearly 80 days of the palace’s princess information blackout, we have learnt exactly nothing about her treatment, her wellbeing, and her condition from the horse’s, or at least the horse-loving family’s, mouth. Kate is sick and has cancer,” Elser continued.

“She, therefore, has exactly the same right to privacy as every other single human being and should be under no obligation to provide hot and cold running updates about her treatment, side effects, and condition. How do you weigh up giving her the space to get well with the requirement to, at some point, say something and to provide something like an update?”

“Never is the Kate-shaped hole in the royal family going to be more painfully obvious than now,” Elser concludes. The summer is when the royals are most visible; and Kate will be missed.

Kate Middleton should be ‘tiare-ed and gowned-up’ in the next few weeks


Kate Middleton during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England | Chris Jackson/Getty Images© Provided by Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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In the following weeks, the royal family is busiest. Their high season begins with Trooping the Color. Followed by garden parties, state banquets, and Royal Ascot, to name a few.

However, Kate Middleton is not currently scheduled to attend any of these events. Royal columnist Daniela Elser noted the princess will be missed at these annual functions.

“The coming weeks will see a series of outings where the Princess of Wales would usually turn up and do some grade-A dazzling in a series of lovely jubbly outfits and diamonds and hats and children that would keep us, the masses, entertained and charmed for ages,” she wrote, “Who needs bread and circuses when we can have Boden frocks and the Cambridge Lover’s Knot?”

Elser notes, “There will be no more glaring moment than on Tuesday, June 25. When King Charles and Queen Camilla host a State Banquet for The Emperor and Empress of Japan.”

“An event that, we would normally see Kate appear tiare-ed and gowned up to absolute suck-it-Cinderella perfection. What is the very essence of the monarchy if not to sate the people with images such as exactly this?”

Is this public pause what Kate really needs?

However, as Kate Middleton recovers, royalists hope this public pause will be just what the princess needs to regain her health. They reportedly wish for more happy and healthy years to come as Kate leads the monarchy into a new era.

It is undetermined when Kate will return to public life. Kensington Palace has maintained on several occasions she will return to work when cleared by her doctors. Kate said as such during a video statement released to social media.

Kate Middleton continues to recuperate with the help of her husband of 13 years, Prince William. They are parents to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.