BRAVE KATE RETURNS TO WORK

THE PRINCESS of Wales is ready to return to royal duties with overseas tours lined up in the new year.

- Emily Ferguson

Brave Kate will use the official trips with her husband to ease her way back into public life after her battle with cancer. Prince William revealed she has recovered enough to be able to do "a bit more" in the year ahead.

He spoke as the Princess, 42, stepped back into the heart of the Royal Family by attending last night's Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. And today she will join the King at the Cenotaph in Whitehall in the largest gathering of royals since his Trooping the Colour birthday celebrations in June.

William said he had high hopes his wife who last made a foreign trip in September 2023 will be ready to travel again soon.

He told reporters: "Family wise, you'll have to wait a little bit longer because obviously the children are at school and that takes priority over everything else. But hopefully Catherine will be doing a bit more next year, so we'll have some more trips lined up, maybe." She has been buoyed by the King's successful nine-day trip to Australia and Samoa, which he hailed as a "real tonic" to his own recovery.

It comes just two weeks after Buckingham Palace sources revealed the King is planning to resume a full schedule of overseas trips next year, with tours planned for the spring and the autumn. The Prince's comments came at the end of his four-day trip to Cape Town, during which he opened up about "the hardest year in my life".