Kate’s cancer diagnosis boosts visits to health charity websites

The Princess of Wales’s decision to speak about her treatment will encourage others who have concerns to visit their GP and seek support, charities said

The Princess of Wales announces she has been receiving chemotherapy

The Princess of Wales’s message about her cancer diagnosis has caused a rise in the number of people searching online for advice and support about the disease, according to statistics released by British charities.

After Kate Middleton’s video on Friday, in which she revealed she was having preventive chemotherapy after the “huge shock” of her illness, Macmillan Cancer Support saw visits to its online information and support pages rise to the highest weekend levels since the first Covid lockdown.

By midnight Sunday, the website had 92,636 unique page views, a 10 per cent increase on the same period last year and the most traffic for a weekend since at least March 2020.

Charity officials said a similar rise was seen after the King’s diagnosis. After the Buckingham Palace announcement on Monday, February 5, the same pages were visited 48,204 times in a single day – the highest daily number since March 2020.

Macmillan Cancer Support chief executive Gemma Peters said: “In sharing her news, the Princess of Wales has raised awareness of these worries and will be helping to encourage others who have concerns to visit their GP and seek support.

“Many will be relating to the Prince and Princess of Wales at this time. Some of the first thoughts parents have after being diagnosed with cancer are how it may affect their children and whether talking to them about it will make them worry, but it is important to give them the chance to talk openly about their fears.”

Cancer Research UK also reported a 15 per cent rise in visits to its online information after the princess’s announcement.

Cancer Research UK CEO Michelle Mitchell said: “On Friday, March 22, the day of the princess’s diagnosis, there were over 200,000 visits to our cancer information web pages. This was a 15.2 per cent increase compared to the day before.” She added that the figures showed how “high-profile cancer cases can act as a prompt to encourage people to find out more or think about their own health”.

Both the prince and princess are understood to be extremely grateful and enormously touched by the support from the public. Royal sources added that Prince William was “extremely proud” of the courage and strength his wife had shown, not just in the past week but throughout her ill-health.

THE TIMES