Up close and personal HOW CANCER CHANGED KATE

More than ever, the princess is embracing life with an open heart

- Judy Kean

She has been refreshingly honest about how cancer has turned her life upside down. When Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced back in January that she was in remission after having chemotherapy for an undisclosed type of the disease, she admitted, “Life as you know it can change in an instant.” Now, after the upheaval of last year, we’re seeing the longer-term effects of how cancer has changed Kate, 43.

“You can’t go through something like that and come out the other side unchanged,” says a palace insider. “She is a different person now.”

As expected, the princess’ workload has eased compared to her pre-cancer commitments and she’s being more selective of the causes she supports, as she doesn’t want to spread herself too thin.

But when the public does get to see her, she’s more laidback and shares much more of herself than she previously has. For instance, her video messages, firstly revealing she had cancer and then announcing she'd finished chemotherapy, showed a far more personal side of Kate and that's made her a lot more relatable, says royal correspondent Emily Andrews.

'What's interesting is how much she is willing to share of herself'