The Princess of Wales will have a busy 2026 as the Royal Family hope for a much-needed fresh start following a scandal-filled 2025Georgia Burns Trainee Trends, Showbiz and Lifestyle Writer and Mitya Underwood
15:20, 05 Jan 2026
It is a big year for Princess Kate, who turns 44 on 9 January 2026(Image: Getty)
After enduring a gruelling cancer battle, family tensions and the loss of her close confidante Queen Elizabeth II, the Princess of Wales has faced more in recent years than many experience in a lifetime. But royal fans will be hoping that 2026 brings a fresh start for Kate, who revealed a year ago that she was in remission following treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
As Kate celebrates her 44th birthday on January 9 and gradually returns to public life, experts say her focus is firmly on the future. “For anyone who has been through the devastation of a cancer diagnosis, another year of life is cause for celebration,” royal expert Katie Nicholl tells OK !.
She continues: “Kate is an incredibly positive and optimistic person, and the way she has navigated her illness has only added to everyone’s admiration and respect for her. As she celebrates her birthday, she’ll be looking to the future and hopefully leaving the difficult past couple of years behind her.”
This year ahead is expected to bring significant change for Kate, William and their three children – George, 12, Charlotte, 10 and Louis, seven. Alongside adjusting to life at their new Windsor home, Forest Lodge, George is set to move up to senior school in September. Royal experts suggest that while Kate remains committed to her professional duties, she will be keen to find a healthy balance between public and private life.
Kate has been through an incredibly difficult time, but appears stronger every day(Image: PA)
Katie continues: “Kate has always been incredibly hardworking and loyal to the Crown, as she juggles a demanding public role with motherhood. But her focus has always has been on family, and I think that will continue to be the case. She’s gone through her cancer battle very much in the public spotlight, and that has been very hard. But I think her illness has given her a new perspective on life.”
The princess has spoken candidly about how “life-changing” a cancer diagnosis can be, explaining last year during a visit to an Essex hospital that recovery is a bumpy road. “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment, treatment’s done – then it’s like ‘I can crack on, get back to normal,” she said. “But actually, the phase afterwards is really difficult.” She added, “You have to find your new normal and that takes time… and it’s a roller coaster.”
Even so, while Kate’s priority remains her role as a devoted mother, she is also clearly focused on protecting the future of the monarchy, particularly amid ongoing concerns surrounding King Charles’s health, the Mirror reports. The King disclosed his cancer diagnosis in February 2024, just weeks before Kate revealed that she too was undergoing treatment.
“Catherine is hugely popular, she’s the star of the royal family,” author Hugo Vickers tells OK !. “The other royals, like Princess Anne, do a wonderful job, but with Prince Harry and Andrew off the scene, we have a very small royal family now. We really need Catherine.”
Although the King has returned to public duties, William and Kate are expected to slowly take on greater roles to support him. This spring, they will also gain an important new official power, gaining the ability to grant their first Royal Warrants of Appointment – a major honour that allows them to give the royal seal of approval on selected products, services and brands.
Royal tours remain a vital part of the monarchy, helping to strengthen international relationships and there has been speculation that William and Kate may make an official trip to Australia this year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he is “hopeful” the couple may travel there in the “coming period,” with reports suggesting the entire Wales family could make the trip during the summer. Their last official visit to Australia was a three-week tour in 2014, when George was still a baby.
Kate has become an integral and much-needed member of the royal family(Image: PA)
Royal tours are well known for being demanding, and Kate is likely to be careful not to take on too much following her illness. “It’s obviously a priority that Catherine should look after her health, after all she has been through,” says Hugo Vickers.
“This year, I also think she will focus on duties where she can really make a positive contribution, such as the work she does at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Both she and William are slightly veering away from more formal ribbon-cutting events, in favour of doing things that enable them to engage with people a bit more.”
Kate remains deeply committed to her charitable work and become patron of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in January 2025. Having received her own cancer treatment there, she used the announcement of her patronage to share that she was in remission.
Kate and William are forging a new path, experts say, but still have the same ethos as the late Queen(Image: PA)
“I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to The Royal Marsden for looking after me so well during the past year,” she wrote.
“My hope is, that by supporting groundbreaking research and clinical excellence, as well as promoting patient and family wellbeing, we might save many more lives, and transform the experience of all those impacted by cancer.”
Kate has said she is enjoying the opportunity to concentrate on things that mean the most to her through her work at the The Royal Foundation. February 2026 marks an important milestone for the foundation, as the new CEO steps into the key role for the first time.
Both Kate and William have also expressed their delight at the arrival of the new CEO, Sarah Rose, saying: “We are looking forward to welcoming Sarah to The Royal Foundation and to working with her on some of the issues which are closest to our hearts.”
One of the causes closest to Kate is early childhood development, which she promotes through The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and her Shaping Us campaign, which was launched in January 2023 with an aim to “make a huge difference to the health and happiness of generations to come”.
The princess’s work with her Shaping Us campaign is an integral part of her royal legacy(Image: PA)
Often described as her “life’s work,” the campaign focuses on driving awareness and building research about the powerful impact of the first years of a child’s life, and Kate will no doubt remain hugely committed to the cause.
The princess will be focusing on pouring everything into her own family, especially after such a difficult couple of years, as Katie Nicholl states: “As William said last year in his interview with Eugene Levy, theirs is not a nine-to-five job.”
“The intrusion is part of the territory, but it isn’t easy for them to navigate, and I think people sometimes forget they are human. We know how hands-on Kate and William are as parents, and the last couple of years have given her great clarity on making sure their children and a happy home come first and foremost, and allowing the work to follow on from that.
“Nearly two years after Kate’s cancer diagnosis, it is hopefully starting to feel more like a thing of the past and something she has moved on from with great courage, bravery and success. There’s a sense that this is a new, happier, chapter for the princess.”