Kate Middleton beams as she joins King and Prince William for poignant Remembrance event

The Princess of Wales has taken a significant step in her return to royal duties by joining the Firm for an annual poignant event.

Kate accompanied King Charles, Prince William and other members of the family at the annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, which is hosted by the Royal British Legion to honour the nation’s servicemen and women as well as the war dead.

The princess looked radiant and smiled as she arrived at the famous west London venue, dressed in an elegant black dress alongside her husband as she took her place to celebrate Britain’s servicemen and women. It is the Pricness’ first high profile appearance since she was diagnosed with cancer and follows William describing the last year as the “hardest” of his life.

The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance is staged annually on the Saturday evening of Remembrance weekend. This year’s festival showcases the contribution of the Second World War generation 80 years on from the D-Day landings and commemorates 25 years since Nato peacekeeping forces were deployed in Kosovo, and 10 years since the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

It was announced on Friday that Kate, who revealed eight months ago she had an undisclosed form of cancer, would attend the event as well as the national commemoration at the Cenotaph in Central London tomorrow morning. It will be the first time she has carried out two consecutive days of public official engagements since the start of the year.

Her appearance comes after William candidly spoke of how 2024 has been brutal’ and “probably been the hardest year in my life”, with both Kate and the King diagnosed with cancer. William said on Wednesday during his trip to Cape Town that his wife was “doing really well” and has been “amazing this.

In a video Kate released in September, she revealed she had finished her chemotherapy treatment, and spoke of how she was “looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months”. But she added her focus was “doing what I can to stay cancer-free”.

The princess, 42, has made just a handful of public appearances so far in 2024 after she underwent major abdominal surgery in January and then was diagnosed with cancer.

Her last engagement was a month ago when she made a surprise trip to meet families whose children were killed in the Southport attack and speak to emergency workers who helped at the scene after the devastating knife attack.
Tomorrow as is tradition, Kate will watch the King and William lay floral tributes at the Cenotaph from the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office balcony overlooking Whitehall, taking part in the solemn two-minute silence and viewing the veterans’ march past.