Kate Middleton ‘Is Not Back to Normal,’ but ‘There Is a Light at the End of the Tunnel’: Family Friend (Exclusive)

Kate Middleton is taking a slow and intentional approach as she navigates her return to public life amid her cancer recovery.

While the Princess of Wales, 42, stepped out alongside her family to host her fourth annual Christmas carol service on Dec. 6, she isn’t rushing back into her previous routine. 

“She is focused on herself and her family right now, rightly,” a source close to the palace tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

While the source cautions she has “not fully recovered,” Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary Ailsa Anderson says, “Each time we see her, she’s looking better and better.”

Her recent appearances, including accompanying Prince William, 42, to welcome the Amir of Qatar on his state visit to the U.K. on Dec. 3, signal a slow and deliberate reemergence rather than a full return to royal duties.

Since her Sept. 9 video announcing the end of her chemotherapy for a type of cancer that remains private, Kate has emphasized her cautious approach. “The cancer journey is complex, scary,” she shared, adding that her “path to healing and full recovery is long, and I must continue to take each day as it comes.” 

Says an insider: “She won’t be going back to work in the same way for a long time.”

Friends and sources say Kate’s experience has reshaped her focus, both at home and in her approach to royal duties. 

“She is very much in control of her return to public life. She is doing what works best for her,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith says. 

Adds a source close to the royal household: “Life-threatening illnesses bring a reconsideration of priorities. She and William have always made it clear that family is the most important thing.”

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

Behind the scenes, plans continue to be made for their eventual succession, a reality Kate is increasingly aware of as she and William navigate their evolving roles amid King Charles’ ongoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

A clear indication of their future came on Dec. 7, when William joined world leaders to attend the official reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on behalf of his father and met with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. “I asked him about his wife, and he said she’s doing well. And I asked him about his father, and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father, and he loves his wife, so it was sad,” Trump said after their half-hour chat.

A close source adds, “Their circumstances will eventually change. Given what the future holds, it would be very sensible to build back slowly and prioritize family time.”

The public has seen Kate only a handful of times this year. And she likely won’t return to her previous intensity — she took on 128 engagements in 2023 — in the coming year. The palace has cautioned that decisions about 2025 will be taken in line with medical advice. During a solo visit to Cape Town for his Earthshot Prize in November, William intimated that he hoped Kate would join him on trips abroad next year.

“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,” says Bedell Smith. “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.”

Adds Anderson: “She is a member of the royal family but also a wife, mother and daughter. Don’t expect too much— she’s a person going through something horrific.”

The sense is that when she does make public appearances, she will be alongside William, likely joining engagements he was already set to attend as well as landmark royal occasions.

“They can’t raise people’s expectations with lots of engagements only for her to face a setback, not feel well, and things are canceled,” Anderson adds. “The strategy of an unexpected visit gives her flexibility. She doesn’t have the pressure of feeling she has to turn up.”

Kate has been easing into family routines — juggling Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and 6-year-old Prince Louis’ activities and cheering them on at their sports events while preparing for the holiday season. The family of five is set to spend Christmas at Sandringham with King Charles. There they’ll participate in the royal family’s celebrations and — hopefully — join in the traditional walk to and from church.

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As she navigates her way back to public life, the path won’t be straightforward. “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,” says Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: Charles III and the Modern Monarchy. “The details remain private, but there’s no sense of trying to gloss over the reality that it’s an unpredictable disease.”

Her inner circle agrees, with the family friend cautioning that she “is not back to normal,” but there are signs of “light at the end of the tunnel.”

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