Kate Middleton admits 'everyone expects you to be better' in brave cancer admission

The Princess of Waleshas opened up about finishing cancer treatment, admitting how people "expect you to be better" when it's always the case.

Kate's personal admission came as she met fellow patients at a cancer wellbeing centre at Colchester Hospital, helping to plant roses in a garden designed to help visitors find peace.

The Princess is in remission from cancer, gradually returning to workand recently pulling out of an appearance at Royal Ascot. And as she continues to gradually ramp up her public work as she continues her recovery, she talked about the expectation that when treatment has finished that patients "crack on, get back to normal".

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Speaking to patients and volunteers inside the centre, she said: "There is a whole phase when you finish your treatment, everybody expects you to be better - go! But that's not the case at all."

She said: "You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment. Treatment's done, then it’s like ’I can crack on, get back to normal’ but actually the phase afterwards is really difficult.

"You’re not necessarily under the clinical team any longer but you’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to.

"And actually someone to help talk you through that, show you and guide you through that sort of phase that comes after treatment I think is really valuable." She added: “You have to find your new normal and that takes time.”

Kate also described a cancer diagnosis as "life-changing" and the treatment and recovery a 'rollercoaster'. She repeatedly emphasised the importance of patients and their families being able to find support through their illness, saying it was too often difficult to reach.

The Princess, speaking to therapist Amanda Green during a walkabout in heavy rain afterwards, disclosed that she had not yet tried reflexology but had acupuncture as part of her own health journey.

The discussions were the Princess's most personal and extensive insight into her own experience to date, seeing her reference her own ill health several times while emphasising with patients and families.

"It’s life-changing for anyone," she said. "Through first diagnosis or post-treatment and things like that, it is a life-changing experience both for the patient but also for the families as well. "And actually it sometimes goes unrecognised, you don’t necessarily, particularly when it’s the first time [of diagnosis], appreciate how much impact it is going to have.

"You have to find your new normal and that takes time…and it’s a rollercoaster, it’s not one smooth plane, which you expect it to be. But the reality is it’s not, you go through hard times.

"And to have a place like this to have the support network, through creativity and singing or gardening whatever it might be is so valuable and it’s great this community has it. It would be great if lots of communities had this kind of support.”

Speaking to patients, including those whose cancer has returned and one who had lost his husband to cancer, the Princess asked how the centre had helped them.

"That first-time diagnosis is a very scary journey," she said, referring to the benefits of having an on-site hospital support network where many volunteers have had cancer themselves and survived. Many newly diagnosed patients at Colchester Hospital now visit the centre immediately for counselling and advice.

"To feel a sense of hope and positivity [from speaking to people who have already been through it] is such a positive thing in what is otherwise a very scary and daunting experience," the Princess said.

She added that "science has told us that the mind, body and spirit experience is so important," asking if the clinical team at the hospital had given any feedback about how the wellness centre had affected patients.

After around an hour at the centre, the Princess moved into the RHS’s Wellbeing Garden at Colchester Hospital where she helped plant roses named after her.

Getting her hands dirty and asking if she could do a bit more work, the Princess dug alongside television garden designer Adam Frost and told him she was feeling "good" and was pleased to be able to work outside.

In the pouring rain, as the engagement overran by about half an hour, she told hospital staff and patients who had waited outside to see her: "I'm just washing my hands - I'll be back". She then undertook a walkabout, posing for selfies and group photographs in between asking people about their day.

Kensington Palace said the was there to "celebrate the incredible healing power of nature and raise awareness of the important role that spending time in nature plays in bringing us joy and supporting our mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing".

The visit came with a donation of 50 ‘Catherine’s Rose’ plants, named for the Princess by the RHS with funds from sales going to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

A total of 500 ‘Catherine’s Rose’ plants will be donated to wellbeing and community gardens across the UK this summer, including Maggie’s gardens for people affected by cancer, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and Horatio’s Gardens for those living with spinal injuries.