Catherine, the Princess of Wales, announced on Monday that she had completed chemotherapy for her cancer, lifting a cloud from the British royal family after an anguished period in which she and her father-in-law, King Charles III, had both been stricken with serious illness.
Speaking in an emotional three-minute video, Catherine said, “As the summer comes to an end, I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have finally completed my chemotherapy treatment.”
“Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus,” she continued. “My path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.”
The videotaped announcement was highly personal, offering home movie-style glimpses of Catherine with her husband, Prince William, and their three children.
But it left many questions unanswered: whether her doctors have declared her medically free of cancer; whether she is still undergoing other forms of treatment; and her prognosis for a full recovery.
Dr. Claudine Isaacs, an oncologist and professor of medicine at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, said that, in general, doctors were cautious about declaring a patient free of cancer because there could be microscopic cancerous material that escaped detection.
“Often, we can’t detect any cancer,” Dr. Isaacs said, “but that does not guarantee the person is, or will remain, cancer-free.”
Catherine said she looked forward to returning to work, and would undertake a limited schedule of public events for the rest of the year. She is expected to attend a ceremony honoring those killed in war at the Cenotaph monument in November, one of the most somber dates on the royal calendar.
“The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family,” Catherine said. “Life as you know it can change in an instant, and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown.”
The announcement, filmed last month by Will Warr, a London-based videographer who specializes in wedding videos, put the emphasis on recovery and family rather than clinical details.
Shot in gauzy light with a mix of soft-focus and newsreel-style images, the video showed Catherine playing with her children, resting her head on William’s shoulder, and walking through a field of waving grain.
Catherine, 42, spoke in a voice-over about her ordeal, which began after Christmas, when she entered a hospital for abdominal surgery.
