Prince William reveals the past year has been the hardest of his life

No snappy lede, only sympathies to the Prince of Wales and thoughts for his mental health.

Recently, Prince William spoke with a British media outlet and revealed that he's been trying to get through one of the worst years of his life. Specifically, the Prince of Wales said that his wife and father's cancer diagnoses were the things that rattled him the most in 2024.

According to Hello Magazine's math, King Charles and Princess Catherine's cancer diagnoses' were confirmed within weeks of each other earlier this year. The King of the United Kingdom has resumed his cancer treatments since completing his visits to Australia and Samoa. In Princess Catherine's case, she underwent a preventative round of chemotherapy in September.

It appears that both of his loved ones have their situations under control, but we can't blame Prince William for being extremely concerned.

More stress on top of new responsibilities

In the same interview, Prince William also confirmed he doesn't enjoy the new level of responsibility required by his identity as the Prince of Wales. However, the Prince does appreciate the freedom provided by the position. Some of these freedoms include the chance to invest time in initiatives like the Earthshot Prize.

Earlier this week, Prince William arrived in South Africa to help evaluate finalists for the Earthshot Prize and determine who was using their knowledge and resources to help the environment the most. The Prince believes creating a new environmental prize can motivate people to help the environment now instead of waiting for the ideal social and political circumstances.

Hopefully, working on projects like the Earthshot Prize can help Prince William put his energy towards positive endeavors while mentally and emotionally recovering from the year he's had. The Prince of Wales usually makes himself available to the public via appearances for foundations and altruistic programs, and we should appreciate his continued efforts to make engage with the public despite going through so much behind the scenes.