William & kate Crowning a New King and Queen

AS KING CHARLES III'S HEALTH DETERIORATES, THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES ARE QUIETLY PREPARING TO TAKE OVER THE MONARCHY - AND MAKE CHANGES.

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HIS PLAN William, enjoying a pint with soccer fans on Jan. 15, above, told the BBC in November that he wants his work projects to center around the values "of trying to help deliver change and make... lives better."

WEARING burgundy, Princess Kate was a bright spot against the dreary January weather as she walked through the front door of London's Royal Marsden Hospital Jan. 14. It felt like a novelty, she confided to cancer patients inside, after months of secret visits to receive her own chemotherapy. With husband Prince William, she's been named a royal patron of the hospital's charity arm — a position once held by her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana — an honor befitting the future queen. Sharing that she is now in remission, she thanked “all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything.”

During their reign, "William and Kate want the royal family to be seen as more relatable,' says a source.

They'll soon be navigating another life-altering challenge. After a “brutal” 2024 that William called “the hardest year in my life,” a source tells Star the Prince and Princess of Wales, both 43, are preparing to be crowned king and queen long before anyone expected. People around King Charles III, 76 — who, like Kate, was also diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in early 2024 — “have been worried about his declining health for some time,” says the source, noting that even though the monarch has been continuing treatment, he could have “just months to live.”

READY TO RULE