Princess of Wales offers apologies for missing key military event amid health battle

Kate Middleton, also known as the Princess of Wales, shocked the world earlier this year when she announced that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after the presence of cancer was found following abdominal surgery.

The popular royal made headlines again this week due to her absence from an annual rehearsal ahead of the famed Trooping of the Colour parade, something in which she would typically take part due to her status as honorary colonel of the Irish Guards, as CBS News reports.

Princess sends her regrets

Catherine dispatched a letter of apology to the military unit in which she expressed regret over her inability to attend the proceedings this week, and her communication was posted on the Irish Guards' X account so that it could be shared with the public.

The princess explained, “Being your colonel remains a great honor, and I am very sorry that I'm unable to take the salute at this year's Colonel's Review.”

“Please pass my apologies to the whole regiment, however I do hope that I am able to represent you all once again very soon,” she added.

Signing the letter “Colonel Catherine,” the future queen asked that her “very best wishes and good luck” be sent to all involved.

Status rumors continue to swirl

The apology letter comes amid something of a resurgence in online speculation about the princess's current state of health, with some wondering if a return to public service in any form is even on the cards.

The New York Post, citing a recent report in US Weekly, revealed that a supposedly knowledgeable source posited that Catherine “may never come back in the role that people saw her in before.”

That same insider reportedly also indicated that the beloved wife of Prince William is “reevaluating what she's going to be able to take on when she comes back” and that her position may look very different from the one to which the world is accustomed to seeing her fulfill.

Royal observer Richard Fitzwilliams has been quoted saying that when (or perhaps if) the princess resumes official duties, “it will be [according] to medical advice, and it will be very carefully balanced.”

Not so fast

Despite all of the online scuttlebutt about the princess and speculation that her days in the limelight are over, other sources have suggested that nothing could be further from the truth.

As Fox News notes, multiple royal experts voiced the opposite view, with author Christopher Andersen imploring, “Let's not jump the gun, folks.”

“Kate is all about her family, but she is also all about duty to her country. She is keenly aware of the roles she plays as Princess of Wales, the future queen, wife of a future king and mother to a future monarch. Kate didn't spend 10 years waiting to land her prince so that she could eventually recede into the shadows,” he opined.

Such an optimistic take on what could like ahead for the royal family will be music to the ears of Catherine's millions of fans, not just in Britain, but across the entire globe.