she is one of the most popular royals, whether hosting events herself or at the side of her husband, the prince of wales, catherine has played an active role as a senior royal since marrying william in 2011. catherine is a hugely popular member of the royal family and she is a very important member of the royal family for that reason. you know, when she steps out looking glamorous, she will be on the front page of every magazine, of every newspaper, and that is important for a royal family that needs to be seen. there are fewer senior members of the royal family out and about and i think part of the reason why this social media frenzy has developed over the last couple of months is because she hasn't been as visible because she has been taking time out for this recovery and she has been missed. the princess of wales is a key

player within the royal family and she is of huge importance to their regular goings—on. if you think of annual events like trooping the colour, the horse guards parade, all the things that we have to look forward to within the royal family's calendar. but separate from that, she possesses her own brand. that is really valuable to the people and to herself, that connection she has with the people separate to her role in the royal family has really made her this international icon. but for now, her public activities are on hold after her statement on march 22, 202a. i wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst i have been recovering from surgery. it has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but i have had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me for which i am so grateful.

in january, i underwent major abdominal surgery in london and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non—cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and i am now in the early stages of that treatment. we will begin with that breaking news from the royal family. catherine the princess of wales . releasing a video statement saying she has been diagnosed with cancer. kate's statement prompted headlines around the world. reaction to the statement was immediate and heartfelt. well, they seem to have been under the cosh for a while, but i hope she recovers and also the king as well, i hope he recovers. you know, prayers from the usa or from all of us because i think all of us have been touched by cancer with family members so to know that... we know what you're going through.

i mean, it is terrible to hear that news about anyone and yes, i am processing. a bit miffed with some of the social media and some of the comments that have come out from that and i think she has actually been very brave to set the record straight. buckingham palace issued a statement on behalf of the king. he said he was... he also said that he and the queen... there was a message from california too. harry and meghan said... and there was a very personal message from the princess's brother on instagram. james middleton posted a childhood photo with his sister and he wrote...

i think the statement from the princess of wales is quite extraordinary. it's dignified, it's brave, it's come at the right time. i think it was beautifully composed. it was recorded, as we know, a few days before friday night and it has now come out. the context really is that there was news about the princess's health and it is quite clear from her statement that they needed to tell their children about it first so that it was the right time to do it. the setting for the statement was so purposeful and so thoughtful. she is at home at windsor. there's daffodils behind her and i think it was a lovely, upbeat setting for the message, but what i really loved is what she was wearing. the fashion was not the focus for this video, but the way that she came to the people in her sort of iconic striped jumper and jeans, it was dressed down but it was relatable. it really felt like she was speaking to us, speaking to the people in a relatable, personable way. i think it is unprecedented.

i don't think i've ever seen a statement from a member of the royal family like that about their health, so huge credit to her for doing it. i think everyone who watched it could just feel the combination of bravery but also pain that she is going through emotionally in this process, so i think it is a pretty significant landmark, actually, for the royal family, and in a sense, for coverage of the royal family. i think what struck me most of all about the statement was that catherine is someone who is very private. you don't hear her talk actually very often. it is not something she is hugely comfortable about doing in public, but here she was, clearly after all the months, the weeks of speculation, wanting to lay out in her own words what was wrong, what the problem was and addressing the public directly. for now, kate has signalled her priorities are getting well and looking after her children. this, of course, came as a huge shock and william and i have been

doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. as you can imagine, this has taken time. it has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. but most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to george, charlotte and louis in a way that is appropriate for them and to reassure them that i am going to be ok. as i have said to them, i am well. i'm getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirit. having william by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance too. as is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. it means so much to us both. we hope that you will understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while i complete my treatment. my work has always brought me a deep

sense ofjoy and i look forward to be being back when i'm able. but for now, i must focus on making a full recovery. at this time, i am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. for everyone facing this disease, in whateverform, please do not lose faith or hope. you are not alone. undoubtedly, i think catherine would say that her role within the royal family is one of wife to william, his support to the heir to the throne, and also the mother of three young children. george is the eldest, he is still only ten years old, charlotte is eight years old, prince louis is five. and throughout their upbringing, both the prince and princess have tried as much as they can to give them as normal an upbringing as possible, which within the confines of the royal family cannot be easy. she almost always l does the school run. she is at the rugby games,

at the football matches, i and that is her highest priority, and that has been consistent. throughout this experience. her surgery was timed - for when the children went back to school and this whole recovery process has gone on while they l have been at school. they have been distracted, surrounded by friends - and teachers to support them, and now this new news - is being shared as they have several weeks off of school and have time . to step away, create a bit of - a bubble and to support the children during an incredibly difficult time. those problems were nowhere in sight when kate made her last official appearance before the statement at sandringham on christmas day. very happy christmas. onjanuary i7, kensington palace announced she had undergone abdominal surgery and would stay in hospital for up to two weeks. she was not expected to resume royal duties for several months. on the same day, buckingham palace reveals that king charles would receive treatment for an enlarged prostate.

later, it was announced that the king had cancer. a few weeks later, he appeared in public at sandringham. when kate released a mother's day photo with her children, it sparked controversy over how the image had been manipulated. speculation on social media about kate's health intensified. that was a very honourable attempt to try to show people that she was there and with her kids and it was a lovely photograph and ijust wonder, we'll never know, as i say, whether that, in different times, would have been entirely the right thing to do. and it was unfortunate that immediately, partly because of the social media frenzy, people interrogated. they did, they interrogated the photograph as if it was a piece of evidence in a court case. so i suspect, given that wasn't as successful as it should have been, we had to get to a place where there was going to be a direct communication from the princess herself. when she was spotted out shopping with her husband, william, on march 19,

there were claims that the pictures were of a body double. i was quite surprised how many people i know actually did go online. in fact, there was a survey this week where 50% of the people surveyed had actually gone online to look at the conspiracy theories, and that is the problem. it's the wild west, the world of the social media, and of course it's possible to ignore it all but what happens sometimes is that social media wild west—ness gets into the traditional media and i think that's where we potentially were before the princess of wales made the statement. and what unfolded was a social media catastrophe from a pr point of view, where the message really got out of control. the palace has always operated under never complain, never explain, keep calm and carry on, and i think they really tried to stick with that this time because in terms of the larger picture, in the big picture of things, that has always served them historically in every situation. if they stick to their message

and release the information that they feel comfortable with, it has always worked out. but this time, we really saw a real unravelling, a real frenzy around the lack of information. this time, it is a new set of circumstances, so i don't think there has been any time before this when the social media impact of what people perceive as a being a news vacuum probably this time has been more dramatic than ever before. there have always been conspiracy theories around the royal family, but this time, i think it got to a stage where it had to be dealt with directly. maybe there is a learning from this time about how the palace, the people of the palace, the advisers of the palace kind ofjudge, and it is very difficult, judge what the mood really is as opposed to what the social media mood might appear to be, and i suspect in most cases they are very different. in his message of support, the prime minister, rishi sunak, said that catherine had been unfairly treated in the weeks

leading up to the statement. labour leader sir keir starmer said she had been the subject of lurid speculation. this year, i think it was especially important, and their team really took the time to think this through, that a fresh, recent family photo was really what the public needed. and unfortunately, it seems that this was a bit rushed, it was a bit of a last—minute decision and so after school on friday, the children and their mum sat down for a photo, prince william took the photo, and the princess of wales edited it that evening and then it went out into the world and just caused absolute chaos as social media sleuths started identifying these photoshop inconsistencies. and this was a really good example of old world techniques and sort of releasing these family photos not really working in our modern age. today at six, the princessl of wales issues an apology when a mother's day photograph leads to a storm of speculation. _ catherine apologised

for what she called any confusion over how she had edited the photo, and a number of picture agencies withdrew the image. they issued so—called "kill notifications", an industry term used to make a retraction. it is a really interesting question as to whether actually the princess of wales had to go public because of the speculation. i do think that the photograph, the family photograph in other circumstances would have been a great success, and people would have said it was a lovely picture of the family with the children smiling, but because of this vortex of kind of social media sort of craziness, not to put too strong a word, it didn't work and people immediately, it almost compounded the conspiracy theories about why a photograph may have been changed other thanjust a happy mother trying to make the photograph the best possible outcome. the royal family will be hoping that kate's public statement about her health will bring much of the rumour and speculation to an end. injanuary, i underwent major abdominal surgery in london, and at the time, it was thought

that my condition was non—cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and i'm now in the early stages of that treatment. this will be a familiar situation for many people watching this because one in two people in the uk will get some form of cancer in their lifetime. and just like them, princess catherine has asked for time, space and privacy while dealing with this, and kensington palace has not put out detailed medical information. we don't know what type of cancer she has or when it was caught, and we won't be speculating on that. | i think some patients find telling | other people harder than actually taking it themselves because they're worried about their reaction. - they're worried about them. and as a mother, all she's

going to be thinking - about is her children. and so that must have been really difficult. . she's got a lot on her plate. and then imagine us all having to | tell our friends and our children, | and then she's had to tell the whole world. - huge amounts on her plate. and i think she's done such a fantasticjob. . princess catherine has said that she has been advised by her medics to have preventative chemotherapy, as she terms it, and that she's in the early stages of this. chemotherapy, well, it's a catch—all term, really, for drugs, for medication that kill cancer cells. when it's given after an operation, it's often given to mop up any cancer cells that are still there and to prevent cancer from growing. catherine didn't say much herself about when she's having her treatment. it started late february, her preventative chemotherapy. and kensington palace has said it won't be releasing further detail on this, that she has an expectation,

as everyone else does, for medical privacy. hello, what's your name? many of the side effects can be prevented or managed and will go away once the chemotherapy is over. some of the side effects that people might be familiar with are things like tiredness, fatigue, feeling sick. and people will have heard that some people — not everyone — gets hair loss during chemotherapy, and there are ways of helping to reduce this and prevent it. at this time, i'm also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. for everyone facing this disease in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. you are not alone. those words in support of cancer sufferers have been widely welcomed. every family has difficult times and it doesn't make it any easier, but i think in particular i was struck by the princess of wales' comments about people suffering from cancer and saying,

"you are not alone." these very simple, powerful statements from a member of the royal family can make a huge difference. so part of the enduring interest in the royal family is, i've always thought, that it holds up a mirror to ourselves. of course the royal family is different, but every family suffers, sadly, from illnesses, from separations, from changes in relationships. and i think this is what people find interesting and sometimes fascinating about the royal family. and i'm sure like every other family, pulling together, just pulling together as a family is going to be critically important. kate's cancer diagnosis is the latest in a string of challenges for the royal family. in the last few moments, - we've received breaking news from buckingham palace, - which has announced that the king has been diagnosed with cancer. from the deaths of the queen and prince philip to the king's own cancer diagnosis, the health of the royals has been under intense scrutiny. it has been a difficult few years for the royal family

on a personal level, first of all, with the death of prince philip and then really not long afterwards, the death of queen elizabeth ii, that has meant that there has been more pressure on the new king, king charles, and the prince of wales to step into those roles. the princess of wales has said that the prince of wales - is invaluable to her in terms of comfort and support, - so he's stepped back from quite a few of his royal duties, - and so we have him sort of out of this game as well. - and now this slimmed—down monarchy that we've spoken about in the reign . of king charles iii looks a little bit out of place. _ it looks too slim. and now there's not enough key players to support - the monarchy during this time. for now, catherine has asked for time out of the public spotlight. having william at her side is a source of reassurance, she says, as is the kindness shown by many members of the public. it's really hard to imagine -

because we've put them on such a beautiful pedestal, _ but the royal family are real people and they struggle with the same things that we will struggle - with as everyday people. and i think that they recognise that in everything that they do, - but especially in light of king charles iii's . diagnosis and the princess of wales' diagnosis, - where they have used their platform and taken the time to acknowledge i those suffering from similar- diseases, from similar cancers, utilising their platform to, - as the king did, encourage men especially to receive health checks. and i think the princess of wales i did a beautifuljob emphasizing how she's taking time to heal her mind, i body and spirit and in an indirect. way, encouraging all of us to take i time to take care of ourselves. i it's quite clear the princess is an extraordinary mother, and it must have been very difficult for the princess to talk about telling her children about her cancer. but i think a lot of people...

that would resonate with a huge number of people. it's a very personal thing. and clearly, the way she described it, they thought long and hard, prince william and the princess of wales, about how to tell the children, when to tell the children. and here we are, it's the easter holidays and they've chosen this time. but i think it was a very emotional part of what was an emotional statement, because everyone can feel what that must have been like for her. we hope that you'll understand that as a family we now need some time, space and privacy while i complete my treatment. my work has always brought me a deep sense ofjoy, and i look forward to being back when i'm able. but for now, i must focus on making a full recovery. hello there. sunday didn't turn out too badly

with a bit of spring sunshine, just 1—2 showers. but through the next few days, the weather is looking quite changeable, decidedly unsettled, spells of rain, often windy, and it will be cold enough for snow over high ground in scotland. now let's take a look at the rainfall we're expecting to accumulate over the next five days. wet for hills in the west, very wet for eastern scotland. but, while i say rainfall, actually some of this will fall as snow across scotland, because certainly over the next couple of days, we”ll hold on to some rather cold air across this northern half of scotland. in the short term, well, through this evening and tonight, we see cloud and rain spreading from the west across northern ireland, western england, wales, pushing its way a little bit further northwards and eastwards. ahead of that, a slice of clear sky, 1—2 mist patches, and temperatures dropping away — but out towards the west, as the night wears on, those temperatures will climb a little bit. so, nine celsius in plymouth, for example, as we start monday

morning with the cloud, with the outbreaks of rain, all associated with this area of low pressure, and a frontal system swirling its way in from the west. now, i think there will be parts of east anglia and the southeast that stay dry with some hazy sunshine throughout the day. northern scotland will hold on to some spells of sunshine, 1—2 wintry showers, but elsewhere we see the cloud, we see the outbreaks of rain moving quite erratically northwards. temperatures on monday afternoon across south wales, southern england, 10—12 celsius, but northern scotland, just 5—7 celsius — and it's as the wet weather runs into that cold air that we will start to see some quite significant snow. overfairly modest hills i think we could see snow, but above 300 metres elevation we could be looking at 20 centimetres of snow — and at low levels close to the east coast, parts of aberdeenshire, angus, fife, maybe up to 50 millimetres of rain. so that brings with it the risk of flooding and disruption. and the weather across scotland on tuesday only very slowly improving, the snow levels lifting, the rain and snow tending to peter outjust a little bit. windy in the far north, really cold,

as well, struggling to get above freezing for some. further south, northern ireland, england and wales, sunny spells, the odd shower, highs of ii. temperatures climbing a little bit, actually, through the week ahead, into the easter weekend, but there will still be some rain at times.

live from london, this is bbc news. the head of the un agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. russia's president putinjoins a day of national mourning, lighting a candle for victims of the concert hall attack where 137 people were killed. ireland is set to have its youngest ever prime minister, with simon harris declared as fine gael leader. and jasmin paris, the first woman to complete one of the world's most gruelling races, speaks to the bbc. any woman that wants to take on a challenge and maybe doesn't have the confidence, the idea that i might have inspired them to believe in

themselves and have a go, that's huge.