Emotional Kate makes milestone return to duty as she joins King at Remembrance Sunday service

An emotional Princess of Wales completed a milestone in her return to royal duties on Sunday, as she joined other members of the royal family at the Cenotaph.

The appearance marks the first time Kate has carried out commitments on two consecutive days since she was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year.

Kate looked on at the Remembrance Sunday service as the King, who is still undergoing treatment for his own cancer diagnosis, led the nation in a two-minute silence to honour fallen servicemen and women.

Dressed in black, as is the tradition, Kate wore a netted hat with her hair in a twisted chignon and a military-style coat featuring black epaulettes, which was embellished at the neck with a black velvet bow.

On the princess’s coat were three red poppies, often rumoured to be in honour of her great-grandmother’s three brothers, who all lost their lives in the First World War.

As the Queen was forced to stay at home after falling sick with a chest infection, Kate was instead joined by Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, as they oversaw the ceremony on the Foreign Office balcony.

Charles went on to lay the first wreath to honour the war dead at the Cenotaph, with William and Anne following suit.

They were joined by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who stepped forward to pay tribute to the fallen on behalf of the government with his floral tribute, followed by the Conservative Party’s new leader Kemi Badenoch, and other party leaders, senior members of the cabinet, military chiefs of staff and high commissioners.

Standing close to the Cenotaph were eight former prime ministers: Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Lord Cameron, Baroness May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

As the ceremony drew to a close, Sophie was photographed putting her hand gently on Kate’s back as the pair left the balcony.

The appearance came hours after Kate joined Charles and the Prince of Wales at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday evening.

From the royal box, the group watched attentively as current serving personnel paid tribute to those who lost their lives in Afghanistan and, towards the end of the evening, joined in the singing of a hymn.

During the festival, William and Kate, both wearing poppies, applauded a performance by Sir Tom Jones – who sang “I Won’t Crumble With You if You Fall” with the central band of the Royal Air Force – and joined other members of the royal family in standing to clap for Second World War veterans.

This weekend marks a step up for Kate, 42, who has made just a handful of public appearances so far in 2024 after she underwent major abdominal surgery in January and then was diagnosed with cancer.

Her husband, William, spoke candidly last week of how 2024 has been “brutal” and “probably the hardest year in my life”.

Her last engagement was a month ago when she made a surprise trip to meet families whose children were killed in the Southport attack, and to speak to emergency workers who helped at the scene after the devastating knife attack.

In a heartfelt video released in September, Kate announced she had finally finished her cancer treatment but was “focusing on staying cancer-free”.