Kate Middleton Steps Out for Christmas Day Walk Alongside Family, Marking End of ‘Hardest’ Year ArticlePure

Kate Middleton is ending one of the most difficult years of her life by taking part in a cherished royal family tradition.

On Wednesday, Dec. 25, the Princess of Wales, 42, was joined by her husband Prince William and children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 — as well as other members of the royal family — for the traditional Christmas Day walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate, where Kate and the royal family typically spend Christmas every year.

King Charles and Queen Camilla led the royal family’s Christmas Day walk, as they greeted well-wishers lining the route to catch a glimpse of the royals on their way to church service.

This year’s holiday appearance is especially meaningful for Kate after what has been a tumultuous 2024 that began with a planned abdominal surgery in January. At the time, the surgery was thought to be for a non-cancerous condition. However, post-operative tests later revealed the presence of cancer. She announced the diagnosis to the public on March 22 and wasn’t seen in an official capacity until June’s Trooping the Colour, celebrating the official birthday of her father-in-law King Charles, who was also diagnosed with cancer this year. Both Kate and Charles’ respective types and stages of cancer remain unknown to the public.

In a year mostly spent dedicated to her health, Kate was rarely seen at official royal engagements, save for Trooping the Colour and a July appearance at Wimbledon alongside daughter Charlotte and sister Pippa Middleton. On Sept. 9, Kate released a second video message, this time announcing that she had completed chemotherapy treatment. Though her return to royal work remains gradual, in October she visited Southport, England with William and stepped out for Remembrance events in November; on Dec. 6, she hosted her annual Together at Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey, and continued her return to public life with the Dec. 25 outing.

At her carol concert earlier this month, Kate said she “didn’t know this year was going to be the year that I’ve just had … the unplanned.”

“But I think lots of people this year have had such challenging times, and many who are here today.”

In November, Prince William said that 2024 has been “the hardest year in my life”:  “It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life…I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done. But from a personal family point of view, it’s been brutal.”

Kate’s cancer diagnosis has reframed her life, both with her family at home and in her approach to her royal work. “Life-threatening illnesses bring a reconsideration of priorities,” a source close to the royal household told PEOPLE. “She and William have always made it clear that family is the most important thing.”

As 2025 looms, Kate “is very much in control of her return to public life,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith told PEOPLE. “She is doing what works best for her.”

A friend said, “She is focused on herself and her family right now, rightly,” adding that she has “not fully recovered.” An insider told PEOPLE, “She won’t be going back to work in the same way for a long time.”

A source said: “You can’t go through something like that and come out the other side unchanged. She is a different person now.”

The path back to more and more royal duty won’t be straightforward, royal biographer Robert Hardman told PEOPLE. “We are being encouraged not to look at this as a chapter that’s over and then it’s back to normal, because cancer doesn’t work like that,” he said. “The details remain private, but there’s no sense of trying to gloss over the reality that it’s an unpredictable disease.”

Bedell Smith added, “She will probably continue to be strategic about how often she appears in public, and people shouldn’t hold it against her if she is doing less next year. The important thing is she will be pacing herself. She will do what she’s able to do and pursue things she feels passionate about.”

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A family friend told PEOPLE that, though she “is not back to normal,” there are signs of “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“She has to get back on top of it,” a source close to the royal household told PEOPLE. “And she will if she is left alone to work it out for herself.”