Kate Middleton Continues Return to Public Life With Back-To-Back Appearances

Less than a year after her cancer diagnosis sent the royal family into a tailspin, Kate Middleton’s return to public life seems fully underway. The royal, whose cancer treatments left her balancing “good days and bad days” for much of the summer, officially returned to work in September, but cautioned that her “path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.” But with two public events on her calendar this weekend, it appears that the good days are officially outnumbering the bad.

Kate Middleton’s busy weekend began on Saturday, when—much as she did last year, and the years before—she attended the annual Festival of Remembrance at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The 42-year-old was joined by husband Prince William, King Charles III, Princess Anne, and other working members of the royal family. Queen Camilla, who earlier this week had canceled her engagements due to a “chest infection,” was not present.

Before the commemorative concert (which featured Tom Jones, among others) began, the audience gave Charles—who, like Kate, has been battling cancer—a standing ovation, the BBC reports. Royal watchers noted that Middleton appeared to fight back tears (per the Sun) as a group of World War II veterans took the stage. People also noted that William and Kate shared “a rare display of PDA” as they entered the hall, as the prince “protectively put an arm around his wife’s back several times.” Keen-eyed spectators (such as those at the Telegraph) also pointed out that Middleton wore a pair of diamond and pearl earrings known as the Collingwood set, a staple jewelry item for William’s mother, Princess Diana.

On Sunday, the princess chose a different pair of earrings for the Remembrance Day service. This time, her ears bore drop-style adornments made with pearls given to the then-Princess Elizabeth for her wedding in 1947. Elizabeth, who had the pearls joined with diamonds for the jewelry we see here today, wore the earrings often during the earliest years of her reign. The pair was passed on to Diana after her marriage to Charles, and after Diana’s death in 1997, they were returned to the Queen.

At Sunday’s service at the Cenotaph (which is in Whitehall, near Downing Street), Charles laid the first wreath at the monument for fallen service members. Prince William followed suit with his own wreath, as did Princess Anne.

As is tradition, Kate watched from a balcony attached to the Foreign Office, next to Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. As of Saturday, Queen Camilla was absent, but according to a statement from Buckingham Palace, Camilla will instead “mark the occasion privately at home and hopes to return to public duties early next week.”