Inside the hardest year of Kate’s life: From trolls’ conspiracy theories amid cancer diagnosis to THAT Mother’s Day photograph – as the Princess of Wales turns 43 today we look back at all the twists and turns of her brutal year [Video]

02:04 EST 09 Jan 2025, updated 02:58 EST 09 Jan 2025

Since the then Kate Middleton joined the Royal Family, her birthday is usually a peaceful affair as it happens in the ‘downtime’ month of January, which is kept mostly free for diary planning following a busy period of high-profile events over Christmas.

But today, as the Princess of Wales celebrates her 43rd birthday, she will be looking back on a year that her husband William described as the ‘hardest year in my life’.

That is because a week after her birthday on January 17, 2024, a statement from Kensington Palace announced she had undergone abdominal surgery.

It would be just the beginning of a tumultuous year of health concerns for the princess which became more serious when she announced in March she had been diagnosed with cancer –  putting an unprecedented strain on the entire Royal Family.

Here MailOnline looks back at all the twists and turns in …