Kensington Palace has announced that Kate Middleton underwent a planned abdominal surgery on Tuesday at the London Clinic, a private hospital in the city’s medical district. In a statement, the palace noted that the Princess of Wales would remain an inpatient for approximately two weeks, and would likely not return to public duties until April at the earliest.
“Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to the London Clinic yesterday for planned abdominal surgery,” the palace said in a Wednesday statement. “The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
A palace source has confirmed to Vanity Fair that the surgery was successful, and the condition, which is not being made public, is “non-cancerous.”
In the statement, the palace added that Kate requests that her medical information remain private. “The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate,” it read. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”
Generally, the royal family avoids sharing private medical information about its members. In the past, Kate has only shared her medical information when related to her pregnancies with her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Throughout all three, she experienced hyperemesis gravidarum and was hospitalized with the condition for two days in 2012.
“Kensington Palace will, therefore, only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’ progress when there is significant new information to share. The Princess of Wales wishes to apologize to all those concerned for the fact that she has to postpone her upcoming engagements. She looks forward to reinstating as many as possible, as soon as possible.”
Though the princess had not yet announced any upcoming public engagements, her schedule is often planned up to a year in advance, and previous commitments might have to be canceled behind the scenes. In December, the Daily Mail reported that an official visit to Italy had been “penciled in” for this spring, but the palace did not officially announce the trip.
Though the royals often promote the UK’s National Health Service, they have a palace medical staff and often seek treatment at the nation’s private hospitals. In 2013, Prince Philip underwent an exploratory abdominal procedure at the London Clinic, where Kate had her Tuesday surgery.
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