Prince William praises 'amazing' Kate as he shares update after her cancer treatment

6 November 2024, 11:31 | Updated: 6 November 2024, 12:29

Prince William has given an update on the Princess of Wales's health, describing her as "amazing".

Ahead of tonight's Earthshot Prize awards in Cape Town, he was asked how his wife Kate was doing and replied: "She's doing really well thanks. Hopefully she's watching tonight and cheering me on.

"She's been amazing this whole year and I know she'll be really keen to see tonight be a success."

Kate revealed in March she was having preventative chemotherapy following the discovery of pre-cancerous cells.

In September, she announced she had completed her treatment and said her focus now is on "staying cancer free".

Throughout the year, Prince William hasn't discussed his wife's diagnosis, despite still continuing with his own public duties.

William answered questions after taking part in rehearsals for tonight's Earthshot Awards, the environmental prize he launched in 2021 to try to inject some optimism into the climate crisis debate.

Since he's been in Cape Town he's been spotted wearing a bracelet with the word 'papa' on it, given to him by his daughter Princess Charlotte.

He explained: "This is a relic from a Taylor Swift concert that my daughter decided that she wanted to create a bracelet for, and she gave it to me when I came away so I've promised her that I'd wear it and try not to lose it while I was out here."

He also shared how he's trying to make sure his three children feel involved in his environmental work, including doing things around the house.

The prince said: "Every family tries to do what they can to help with the environment and we go through the basics of recycling and making sure we minimise water use, turning lights off when you leave the house. We're sensible with what we do around the environment. I think every family has those conversations.

"The Earthshot is trying to be more global than that - we're trying to do big-scale ambition and business. I've brought the children along on that journey and I hope they're proud of what we are trying to do here which is to galvanise that energy and enthusiasm to make real impact."

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Asked about the tough political climate for the environment right now, Prince William didn't make any comment about the US election result and Donald Trump's climate credentials, but said: "Everyone wants some hope and some optimism and Earthshot comes with urgent optimism.

"And as you'll see tonight the amount of youth from Africa who will be in here - they'll be letting you know and letting everyone know that it matters to them.

"Without them, the future is looking pretty bleak so these are the game changers, the innovators, the inventors who are going to make the world a better place for us in future."

The annual Earthshot Prize awards five entrepreneurs, innovators, startups or conservationists with £1m each to help scale their ideas to tackle some of the world's most pressing environmental issues.

This is the fourth year the awards have been held.