'Mummy is ill.. but will be OK'

While the start of the year usually represents a gentle beginning to the royal calendar, 2024 was about to change all that.

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William was left in an extraordinary position. Suddenly, with three children to care for at home and no live-in staff at their Adelaide Cottage home, and with his wife and father in hospital, his future was looking decidedly different.

When the Princess of Wales entered hospital on 16 January, and was then ghosted out two weeks later to disappear completely from public view for potentially months on end, it created an incredible vacuum of information.

"When Catherine went in, he was fairly resolute," said a close aide.

"They both very calmly told the children what was going on and how long Catherine would need to be away for, but explained other than that everything would continue as normal and when she came home, she would need to rest up for a bit." Catherine was able to keep in touch with her family through video calls from her bedside, catching up on what George, Charlotte and Louis had been doing at school and asking if "Papa" had been able to cook for them while she had been away.

"At that time it seemed to all be perfectly in hand, they were the calmness in the storm certainly. But away from the children he was of course incredibly pensive. His father's illness brought into focus just how quickly his life, and that of his family as well as the whole landscape of the institution, could change very quickly.

Catherine's bravery with cancer statement

In perhaps the most emblematic moment of the irrationality of the time, in March we revealed how a criminal investigation had been launched at the hoanital where Catherine had been treated, over claims that three staff had allegedly tried to access the princess's private medical records.

The security breach, confirmed by the Information Commissioner's Office, which was leading the criminal probe, made headlines around the world for days.