Kate Middleton and King Charles Received 27,000 Messages of Well-Wishes amid Their Cancer Diagnoses

Kate Middleton and King Charles' offices were flooded with correspondence after both royals announced that they were undergoing treatment for cancer.

On July 24 local time, The Royal Household released the Sovereign Grant Report for the 2023-2024 financial year, revealing the royal family's annual financial statement and other highlights about their official work.

A striking figure highlighted the amount of mail, with almost 30,000 messages sent in for the Princess of Wales, 42, and the King, 75, following their respective announcements about their health. The report said that the Royal Household received 138,303 items of correspondence during the year, with 27,620 featuring well-wishes for the King and Princess Kate. 

On Feb. 5, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment. Weeks later on March 22, Princess Kate shared in a pre-recorded speech that was undergoing chemotherapy after post-operative tests from an abdominal surgery found cancer.

Prince William's father and wife both postponed public-facing royal duties to focus on their health after the announcements. King Charles kept up with work behind the scenes and resumed forward-facing engagements on April 30. Princess Kate has remained largely outside of the spotlight to privately prioritize her health, only appearing at Trooping the Colour on June 15 and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships on July 14. 

Palace aides emphasized that her Trooping appearance didn't signal a formal return to royal duties. In a June 14 health update that confirmed she would attend the King's birthday parade, her first public appearance since the cancer news announcement, Princess Kate described her treatment as "ongoing" and said she was "starting to do a little work from home."

The Princess of Wales opened the message by saying that she had been "blown away" by the words of support after sharing the news about her health in March.

"I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months. It really has made the world of difference to William and me and has helped us both through some of the harder times," she said of what the outreach meant to her and her husband.

In late February, the palace shared a video of the King opening some of the numerous cards he received from well-wishers. The clip came two days after the King's first face-to-face meeting with then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since the royal began treatment for cancer. During the visit, the monarch said, "I've had so many wonderful messages and cards. It's reduced me to tears most of the time."

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Elsewhere in the Sovereign Grant Report's latest updates on correspondence, the extensive dispatch mentioned that the palace received 31,311 items relating to the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla in May 2023. However, the 138,303 total sum isn't the most ever. A record was set during the 2022-2023 financial year when the palace had received 183,207 items of correspondence in what was "the busiest year on record for incoming post."

The period covered the Platinum Jubilee commemorating Queen Elizabeth's 70-year reign as well as her death at age 96 in September 2022, which began the reign of King Charles. 

Other highlights from the new report outline that the total Sovereign Grant for 2023-24 has remained at about $111 million for the third year running, with the core grant of about $66 million costing about $1 per person in the U.K. to fund the official travel, property upkeep and operating costs of the sovereign's household. 

It further guided that members of the royal family made over 2,300 engagements across the U.K. and around the world and that the proportion of ethnic minority staff at the Royal Household increased to 11.4% of total employees, with the mean gender pay gap reduced to 2.2%.