Princess of Wales to be hospitalized for 10 Days after abdominal surgery

LONDON – Two of the most senior members of Britain’s royal family have been hit by health concerns, with Catherine, the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, undergoing abdominal surgery in London on Tuesday, while King Charles III will receive treatment for an enlarged prostate next week.

Catherine will be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days, according to the couple’s office in Kensington Palace, and will convalesce for two to three months after that. The king’s recovery is expected to be swifter, according to Buckingham Palace, which described his treatment as a “corrective procedure” for a common, benign condition.

Kensington Palace did not offer details on Catherine’s diagnosis or prognosis, other than to say that the surgery had been planned and was successful, and that her condition was “not cancerous.” It said the princess, who is 42, would recuperate at home after she left the hospital and would not return to public duties until after Easter.

The news of Charles’ medical procedure came about an hour later. Buckingham Palace announced he would postpone his engagements for a “short period of recuperation.” It did not say at which hospital Charles, 75, would be treated. A palace official said the king had decided to disclose his treatment because he hoped it would encourage other men who may be experiencing symptoms similar to his to get checked.

Taken together, the medical announcements were a jolt to the British royal family, which had been in a period of relative tranquility, following a turbulent couple of years that included the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022, and her husband, Prince Philip, in 2021.

William and Catherine are known for guarding their privacy on medical issues. William suffered a bout of COVID-19 in April 2020, during one of the most intense phases of the pandemic, but the news was not disclosed for several months. Some suggested that he did not want to cause alarm, since his father, then Prince Charles, had contracted the illness around the same time.

William, 41 and the heir to the throne, will also suspend his public duties while Catherine is in the hospital and immediately after her return home, according to a palace official. He may postpone other engagements during the two to three months that his wife is expected to be convalescing.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.