Prince William promised to “look after” the Princess of Wales as he made his first public appearance since her cancer announcement last month.
The heir to the throne made the comment after being handed two get well soon cards, one for King Charles and one for Princess Kate, while conducting a royal engagement today.
He is visiting Surplus to Supper, a surplus food redistribution charity, in Sunbury-on-Thames, where he helped volunteers sort and redistribute food at the charity’s hub at Sunbury Cricket Club and load deliveries into their vans.
When touring the facilities, one of the charity’s volunteers, Rachel Candappa, 71, handed him two special cards. One was for the King and the other for the Princess of Wales, who are both currently receiving cancer treatment.
William, who looked visibly moved, said: “Thank you, you are very kind.”
Speaking afterwards Rachel, of Sunbury-on-Thames, said: “I said take care of her and he said ‘I will’.
“I was at home at 8.30 last night and I thought I had to do something this is a chance to give a card directly to the palace officials. I didn’t think I’d be able to give the cards to William.
“I said ‘can I shake your hand’, I loved it, he was very down to earth. I’m never washing my hand again.
“He pointed at the food and said ‘that’s spaghetti hoops’ and I asked ‘how do you know about spaghetti hoops and he said ‘I’ve got children’.”
Today marks William’s first engagement since March 20, as he took a short break from duties to spend time with Kate and their children during the Easter holidays.
The Princess of Wales appealed for her family to have time, space and privacy, when she announced in a video message to the nation on March 22 that she had begun chemotherapy.
The undisclosed form of cancer was discovered in post-operative tests following her major abdominal surgery in January.
At the start of February, the King shocked the nation by revealing that he too has been diagnosed with cancer is undergoing treatment.
During today’s visit, the heir to the throne gave a helping hand loading food and cooking in the kitchen at the food distribution charity.
Pictures showed him cutting celery and packing boxes into one of the charity’s delivery vans.
Surplus to Supper is a volunteer-led charity which redistributes surplus food from large organisations to smaller community organisations, all within a five-mile radius.
With an ethos of ‘in bellies not bins’ the charity’s work chimes with William’s work on The Earthshot Prize which has a category focused on building a waste free world.
Surplus to Supper operates seven days a week redistributing over three tonnes of surplus food a day with its network of 200 local volunteers, which includes Duke of Edinburgh award students.
