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British Princess Kate’s Shock Cancer Diagnosis Dominates Front Pages

Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 23, 2023 Catherine, Princess of Wales is pictured at the racecourse. (Reuters)
Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 23, 2023 Catherine, Princess of Wales is pictured at the racecourse. (Reuters)
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British Princess Kate’s Shock Cancer Diagnosis Dominates Front Pages

Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 23, 2023 Catherine, Princess of Wales is pictured at the racecourse. (Reuters)
Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 23, 2023 Catherine, Princess of Wales is pictured at the racecourse. (Reuters)

Friday's shock announcement from Kate, Britain's Princess of Wales, of her cancer diagnosis dominated the nation's newspaper front pages on Saturday, with messages of support combined with criticism of those who had speculated about her health.

Kate said on Friday she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests taken after she had major abdominal surgery in January revealed that cancer had been present.

Kate, the 42-year-old wife of heir to the throne Prince William, called the cancer discovery a "huge shock". The news comes as a fresh health blow to the British royal family: King Charles is also undergoing treatment for cancer.

All of Saturday's newspapers featured Kate's news, accompanied by a photograph of the princess delivering her video message, which was filmed at Windsor on Wednesday.

"KATE, YOU ARE NOT ALONE," splashed The Sun tabloid, saying she received a "huge outpouring of love and support", while rival the Daily Mirror went with "KATE REVEALS CANCER SHOCK" and shared her remarks about how she had to explain the news to her children George, Charlotte and Louis.

The Daily Telegraph quoted the princess, who is still popularly known by her maiden name Kate Middleton, as saying: "Cancer came as huge shock", but noted she said she is "going to be OK".

The Daily Mail rounded on those who have speculated in recent weeks on her health, saying: "How do all those vile online trolls feel now?"

On Friday, messages of support poured in for Kate, including from King Charles, Prince Harry, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and US President Joe Biden.

Sunak said Kate had "shown tremendous bravery" with her statement, adding she "has been unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media."

Kate's diagnosis was also big news internationally.

"Catherine's Cancer Diagnosis Puts UK Royals on Even More Uncertain Terrain," said the New York Times, noting that the grave health concerns of both the king and Kate are stretching an already slimmed down monarchy.

Charles, who took the throne in September 2022 after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth, underwent a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate at the same hospital as Kate in January.

Buckingham Palace then revealed in February that the 75-year-old king was to have treatment for cancer, meaning he has had to postpone his public royal duties.

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Varieties

The World's Rivers Faced the Driest Year in Three Decades in 2023

People visit Silver Sands Beach at the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)
People visit Silver Sands Beach at the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)
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The World's Rivers Faced the Driest Year in Three Decades in 2023

People visit Silver Sands Beach at the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)
People visit Silver Sands Beach at the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

The UN weather agency is reporting that 2023 was the driest year in more than three decades for the world's rivers, as the record-hot year underpinned a drying up of water flows and contributed to prolonged droughts in some places.
The World Meteorological Organization also says glaciers that feed rivers in many countries suffered the largest loss of mass in the last five decades, warning that ice melt can threaten long-term water security for millions of people globally.
“Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, releasing the report on Monday.
She said rising temperatures had in part led the hydrological cycle to become “more erratic and unpredictable” in ways that can produce “either too much or too little water” through both droughts and floods.
The weather agency, citing figures from UN Water, says some 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water for at least one month a year — and that figure is expected to rise to 5 billion by 2050.
The world faced the hottest year on record in 2023, and the summer of this year was also the hottest summer ever — raising warning signs for a possible new annual record in 2024.
“In the (last) 33 years of data, we had never such a large area around the world which was under such dry conditions,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, director of hydrology, water and cryosphere at WMO.
WMO called for improvements in data collection and sharing to help clear up the real picture for water resources and help countries and communities take action in response.
The report said the southern United States, Central America and South American countries Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay faced widespread drought conditions and “the lowest water levels ever observed in Amazon and in Lake Titicaca,” on the border between Peru and Bolivia.