"To be honest, it was awful" Prince William talks openly about his difficult last year

After her chemotherapy, Princess Kate takes part in another important memorial at the weekend. Her husband Prince William talks unusually openly about how difficult the past few months have been.

These are unusual words for Britain's heir to the throne, Prince William (42). "It's probably been the hardest year of my life," William told the British news agency PA. The royals have had to cope with two cancer diagnoses this year. In addition to Princess Kate (42), King Charles III (75) also made a cancer diagnosis public. No details were given in either case.

William has just spent several days in South Africa. At the end of his trip abroad, he was asked about the year. "To be honest, it was terrible," replied the Royal. It had been difficult to manage everything else and keep everything on track. "But I'm so proud of my wife, I'm proud of my father, for getting things done. But from a personal family standpoint, yes, it's been brutal."

For the Windsor family, whose members - motto: "never complain, never explain" - usually tend to keep a poker face, these are unusually frank sentences. At the beginning of the year, the royal family made it public that King Charles was being treated for an undisclosed cancer. Kate later also announced a cancer diagnosis.

Where Kate will be seen at the weekend

Two months ago, the palace announced that Kate had finished her chemotherapy. An elaborate video showed the future Queen with her husband and their children Prince George (11), Princess Charlotte (9) and Prince Louis (6). Kate announced her intention to gradually resume appointments.

This weekend, for example, the Princess of Wales, as Kate's official title is, will appear in public. She will take part in commemorative events for Remembrance Sunday, the palace announced. This is when Great Britain remembers those who died in the Great War. Many Britons wear pins with a poppy motif on their clothing.

According to the British news agency PA, this will be the first time Kate has appeared in public on two consecutive days. It is still unclear whether Charles' wife Queen Camilla (77) will be attending. She recently canceled several appointments due to a respiratory infection. Her participation depends on the medical assessment, according to the palace.

"I couldn't be more relaxed this year"

Kate had withdrawn from the public eye for months due to her illness - in the summer she made her first appearances at a military parade and at the tennis tournament in Wimbledon. In October, she and her husband met people who had been affected by a knife attack in Southport, England. An attacker had stabbed three girls to death there.

Due to his wife's illness, William had taken fewer public appointments in the meantime in order to spend more time with his children. He himself lost his mother at an early age - Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris in 1997.

He now spent several days in South Africa, where he was there for the Earthshot Prize, an environmental award he supports, but without his wife and children. At the end of the trip, he spoke to the British media about this year in more detail for the first time, PA reported. When he was told that he seemed relaxed, he said: "I couldn't be more relaxed this year."