Here are more photos of Prince William on Thursday, visiting a Surrey-based charity called Surplus to Supper. At one point, they put William in the kitchen to make bolognese sauce with their head chef Mario Confait. From the looks of things, Mario was deeply unimpressed with Huevo’s cooking skills and with the Egg himself. During the visit to Surplus to Supper, a “volunteer” named Rachel Candappa handed William two get-well cards, one for the Princess of Wales and one for King Charles. Becky English posted a video of the interaction:

In the Daily Beast’s coverage, Tom Sykes bizarrely claimed that William was “ambushed with get-well cards” like well-wishers were running after him. It was one woman, and it was also pretty clearly some kind of palace set-up. Ms. Candappa even gave plenty of monarchist quotes to all of the papers. Even though I’m sure it was a set-up, William handled the whole thing awkwardly and Sykes also claimed that Kensington Palace and William are “likely to be irritated at the distraction as they tried to return to business as usual.” Oookay, got it – William doesn’t want any sympathy given to his wife and father with cancer?? And yet, William fully expects the dual cancer crises to be his “get out of work” ticket for the foreseeable future. Per Becky English’s latest exclusive at the Mail:

blockquote>When Rachel Candappa kindly handed Prince William two cards wishing both his wife and father well in their individual cancer battles, his emotion was hard to miss earlier today. Placing his hand on her shoulder, the future king looked the 71-year-old volunteer directly in the eye as she urged him to ‘take care’ of Catherine, saying firmly and repeatedly: ‘I will do, I will.’

He only swiftly changed the subject, I am told, when it became clear that Mrs Candappa was herself close to tears and the prince was at pains not to embarrass her in front of the cameras.

William’s visit to the Surplus to Supper food redistribution charity in Surrey was first time we have seen the heir to the throne in public following his wife’s unbelievably brave video message of March 22, when she revealed she has been undergoing treatment for cancer. He was typically chatty, genial – laughing and joking with volunteers – but physically you could see small signs of the toll that recent months have taken on him.

It is understood that William and Kate are both immensely ‘grateful’ for the space they have been given since her announcement.
The family spent the Easter break at Anmer Hall, their Norfolk retreat, where George, Charlotte and Louis were able to enjoy the country lifestyle they so love, as the ordinary children they actually are. Indeed, only the couple’s closest aides have seen or even spoken to the prince or princess in recent weeks, emphasising the need for them to retreat and regroup as a family.

While, fortunately, the King appears to be responding well to treatment and is hopeful of taking up more forward-facing public duties in the near future, recent events will have been a stark reminder of what awaits the Wales’ in the not so distant future. It is why, although his appearances today were both welcome and heartfelt, we should not expect to see a wholesale return to royal duties for the prince. Instead, I understand, he is likely to undertake one or two public engagements each week – often on the same day in order to minimise time away from Kate and the children – as well as continuing with his usual behind-the-scenes work.

He will, I am told, almost certainly take some sort of role around the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June, as well as attending Trooping the Colour and the annual Order of the Garter service and, perhaps, one of the annual summer garden parties for worthy community heroes. And he will definitely continue to undertake investitures at Windsor Castle on behalf of the King over the coming weeks.

But he will also very much balance this with supporting Catherine who, we must not forget, is still undergoing gruelling preventative chemotherapy treatment as well as continuing to recuperate from her initial abdominal surgery in January – the seriousness of which should not be underestimated by anyone.

‘Obviously it’s been an important day [today] and one that has huge resonance with the prince in terms of his own environmental commitments, but I think you can expect to see the Prince undertake engagements at a similar pace to February and March,’ a source stresses. ‘The prince has always made clear that he wants to balance his commitment to public service and duty with supporting his family at this time, and he will continue to find a way to do that.’

Fortunately in this William has his wife’s backing, wholeheartedly. ‘Absolutely, it’s important to both of them, actually,’ my source adds. ‘June is an incredibly busy time ceremonially and the princess will want him to play his part as well. They share that same sense of commitment and service.’

[From The Daily Mail]

English ended up giving us more information than anyone else has for the past month. Kate is “still undergoing gruelling preventative chemotherapy,” which they were able to keep up even though the family spent the past month in Norfolk (and no one has seen her anywhere near a hospital or clinic all year). We’re also learning that they’re soft-launching the idea that Kate will not be expected or scheduled for June events, like Trooping the Colour. Only William is loosely penciling in some June appearances (D-Day, Trooping, Garter service, one palace garden party). He really will be the Work From Home Prince of Wales.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.