Princess of Wales to miss rehearsal of Trooping the Colour

Catherine has been spotted near her rural idyll in Norfolk but her public appearances are a way off, with her diary cleared for the entire year.

Catherine, Princess of Wales has always worn vibrant green outfits when attending events with the Irish Guards.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales will continue with her private recovery from cancer and will miss one of the major ceremonial events of the year, the Colonel’s Review, next week.

In a rare update, Kensington Palace said that the princess will not take part in the Colonel’s Review, which is the traditional rehearsal for the June 15 Trooping the Colour, and which ordinarily would involve her taking the salute as colonel in chief of the Irish Guards.

In the past Catherine has worn vibrant green outfits when attending events with the Irish Guards, and she always makes time to give the regimental mascot, an Irish Wolf Hound, a gentle pat.

But this year while receiving chemotherapy for cancer, which was diagnosed after planned abdominal surgery in January, Catherine will most probably watch the event from her Norfolk residence Anmer Hall.

For the past two months since her announcement revealing the shock cancer diagnosis on March 22 Catherine has been in Norfolk receiving treatment and recuperating with her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton and receiving visits from her siblings. Prince George, who attended a football match last week with his father, Prince William, along with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have been spending school holiday time at the sprawling rural property.

Kensington Palace said on Thursday that the Princess of Wales will not attend the Colonel’s Review, after there had been some speculation she was feeling much better.

In recent days Catherine has been out and about in Norfolk with William, and was seen popping into a family run deli in North Norfolk, the local newspaper reported.

Vanity Fair quoted a family friend saying Catherine, 42, has “turned a corner” and that she’s “tolerating the medication and is actually doing a lot better.”

On May 10, William had told a hospital administrator that his wife “was doing well, thank you’’. But palace aides have made it clear that Catherine has cleared her diary for the year and won’t return to public duties until given the all clear by medical staff.

For the Colonel’s Review, Lieutenant General James Bucknall, the former commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, will be the inspecting officer.

Buckingham Palace confirmed that King Charles, also recovering from cancer treatment, will attend the Trooping the Colour on June 15, but that he will travel in a carriage alongside Queen Camilla.

Usually Charles, 75, would have ridden on horseback, but this year he will review the soldiers from an Ascot Landau carriage, which has been adapted for the occasion.