Princess Kate attends Remembrance Day event in return to public duties

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LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Princess Kate attended a Remembrance Day event in London on Saturday, in her latest public engagement after undergoing preventive treatment for cancer this year.

Kate arrived for the Festival of Remembrance at London’s Royal Albert Hall wearing a black dress adorned with a red poppy, which has become a symbol of respect for those who have lost their lives in conflict.

She was accompanied by her husband William and other members of the royal family and was followed shortly afterwards by King Charles, whose wife Queen Camilla has cancelled engagements as she recovers from a chest infection.

The Princess of Wales said in September she had finished chemotherapy, but her path to full recovery would be long. At the time, the 42-year-old said she would be carrying out a handful of public engagements later in the year.

Her last public appearance was in October when she met the bereaved families of three young girls who were murdered at a dance class in northwest England.

Kate is also expected to attend the main Remembrance Day ceremony on Sunday, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

The ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial is held on the nearest Sunday to Nov. 11 to mark the end of World War One, and pays tribute to those who lost their lives in conflict.

Camilla hopes to return to public duties early next week, the palace said. She pulled out of planned engagements this week after her doctors advised a period of rest. She would mark Remembrance Day privately at home, the palace added.

In South Africa, William told British media on Thursday that the past year had probably been the “hardest” of his life after Kate and his father Charles were diagnosed with cancer.

William visited South Africa as part a climate-focused trip planned around his multimillion dollar Earthshot Prize, created to encourage innovations to combat environmental problems.

As he prepared to leave South Africa, William said, in remarks published on Saturday by British media, he was trying to carry out his public duties “differently” from previous generations.

“I’m doing it with maybe a smaller R in the royal,” he told reporters. “It’s more about impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening, and helping people.

“And I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. … I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world,” William added.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Alexander Smith and Richard Chang)