Princess of Wales Issues First Message Since Undergoing Surgery

This undated photo issued on Sunday March 10, 2024 by Kensington Palace shows Kate, Princess of Wales with her children, Prince Louis, left, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor, England, by Prince William earlier this week. (Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace via AP)
This undated photo issued on Sunday March 10, 2024 by Kensington Palace shows Kate, Princess of Wales with her children, Prince Louis, left, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor, England, by Prince William earlier this week. (Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace via AP)
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Princess of Wales Issues First Message Since Undergoing Surgery

This undated photo issued on Sunday March 10, 2024 by Kensington Palace shows Kate, Princess of Wales with her children, Prince Louis, left, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor, England, by Prince William earlier this week. (Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace via AP)
This undated photo issued on Sunday March 10, 2024 by Kensington Palace shows Kate, Princess of Wales with her children, Prince Louis, left, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor, England, by Prince William earlier this week. (Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace via AP)

Kate, Britain's Princess of Wales, thanked the public on Sunday for their support in her first public message since undergoing abdominal surgery in January, posting a picture of herself with her three children.
The photograph, taken by her husband, heir to the throne Prince William, showed Kate, 42, smiling and looking healthy surrounded by Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.
"Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months," Kate wrote in a message on X. "Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day."
Mother's Day is celebrated on Sunday in Britain. The photograph was taken earlier this week in Windsor where the family live, her Kensington Palace office said.
Kate spent two weeks in hospital in January after having surgery for a non-cancerous but unspecified condition. She has not been seen in public since and Kensington Palace has said she is unlikely to return to official duties until after Easter, which falls at the end of this month.
There have been rumors and some wild speculation on social media in recent weeks about the health of the princess, who has been absent from public royal life since Christmas Day.
Her office released a statement earlier this month, reiterating that it would be providing only "significant updates" about her recovery.
Kate's surgery came on the same day that palace officials said King Charles, 75, would also be entering hospital for treatment for an enlarged prostate.
During the king's hospital stay, his medical team discovered he had an unspecified form of cancer.



Türkiye Insists on Two States for Ethnically Divided Cyprus as the UN Looks to Restart Peace Talks

UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Türkiye Insists on Two States for Ethnically Divided Cyprus as the UN Looks to Restart Peace Talks

UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Türkiye on Wednesday again insisted on a two-state peace accord in ethnically divided Cyprus as the United Nations prepares to meet with all sides in early spring in hopes of restarting formal talks to resolve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Cyprus “must continue on the path of a two-state solution” and that expending efforts on other arrangements ending Cyprus’ half-century divide would be “a waste of time.”
Fidan spoke to reporters after talks with Ersin Tatar, leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots whose declaration of independence in 1983 in Cyprus’ northern third is recognized only by Türkiye.
Cyprus’ ethnic division occurred in 1974 when Türkiye invaded in the wake of a coup, sponsored by the junta then ruling Greece, that aimed to unite the island in the eastern Mediterranean with the Greek state.
The most recent major push for a peace deal collapsed in 2017.
Since then, Türkiye has advocated for a two-state arrangement in which the numerically fewer Turkish Cypriots would never be the minority in any power-sharing arrangement.
But Greek Cypriots do not support a two-state deal that they see as formalizing the island’s partition and perpetuating what they see as a threat of a permanent Turkish military presence on the island.
Greek Cypriot officials have maintained that the 2017 talks collapsed primarily on Türkiye’s insistence on permanently keeping at least some of its estimated 35,000 troops currently in the island's breakaway north, and on enshrining military intervention rights in any new peace deal.
The UN the European Union and others have rejected a two-state deal for Cyprus, saying the only way forward is a federation agreement with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is preparing to host an informal meeting in Switzerland in March to hear what each side envisions for a peace deal. Last year, an envoy Guterres dispatched to Cyprus reportedly concluded that there's no common ground for a return to talks.
The island’s Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides says he’s ready to resume formal talks immediately but has ruled out any discussion on a two-state arrangement.
Tatar, leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, said the meeting will bring together the two sides in Cyprus, the foreign ministers of “guarantor powers” Greece and Türkiye and a senior British official to chart “the next steps” regarding Cyprus’ future.
A peace deal would not only remove a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean, but could also expedite the development of natural gas deposits inside Cyprus' offshore economic zone that Türkiye disputes.