Princess Kate had a lovely reason for sharing her cancer diagnosis with the public, a close friend has said.

The Princess of Wales revealed yesterday that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She is due to start preventative chemotherapy soon.

A close friend of the Princess told the Times that Kate’s decision to make a statement came about due to her concerns about her relationship with the public and wanting to comfort them.

“It allowed her to speak directly to the public who, overwhelmingly, have always been with her and her family and who don’t buy into the noise and gossip,” said a close friend. “It was all her, she wrote every word of it, it came together very quickly.”

The timing was determined by Kate’s keenness to quell further speculation about her health and her marriage, since her cancer diagnosis meant she would not be returning to royal duties as quickly as expected.

A friend said: “What had shifted in the last few weeks was the sense that she felt: ‘I’m not going to have a normal return to work after Easter that everyone is expecting,’ and everyone was anticipating some kind of update around Easter.”

The Princess felt a duty to share her condition to offer hope and solidarity to others experiencing the same challenges and to reassure the world that she is “well and getting stronger every day”.

The friend added: “It wasn’t really about the drama of the last few weeks, though obviously that has been upsetting. She felt she had to do it because of who she is. It was more that she knows she is a public figure and has a wider leadership responsibility. 

“A written statement, she felt, would be too jarring. It was about people seeing her, and her reassuring people that she was positive about it. 

“Knowing it was news that was going to shock people, she wanted to do it as compassionately as possible. When things are really tough, that gratitude to the public for their support is their mantra.

“She also wants to be able to carry on with as active and normal a routine as possible and not have it become a huge issue when she goes to a farm shop near their home in Windsor, with people then suggesting that’s a PR move. Moving forwards, they will be very strict on enforcing their right to privacy.”

The Waleses were also hoping to shield their children from talk about Kate’s diagnosis at school. George, Charlotte and Louis all began Easter half-term yesterday and will not return to school for more than three weeks.