'Heartbroken' Prince William Felt Like He Was 'Hit by a Bus' While Dealing With Kate Middleton's Cancer Diagnosis, New Book Reveals

Prince William felt tremendous pressure to persevere amid his wife Kate Middleton’s cancer battle.

The upcoming book William and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside Story reveals the 43-year-old assumed primary responsibility over their children while the Princess of Wales was in the hospital.

To take some of the weight off the 44-year-old, William tended to the kids and took them to school every day. Kate’s family also visited the house often to help out, and the children would spend the weekends in Berkshire with their grandparents Michael and Carole Middleton.

"They were both very conscious of protecting [the kids] as much as possible," a friend of Kate and William emphasized.

The insider added, "Catherine's admiration for the way in which William took on all of that, keeping the children entertained and occupied, being constantly sanguine even when he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, allowing her to concentrate on her treatment and recovery, is something she will be eternally grateful for."

Even though William was Kate’s “calmness in the storm,” he reportedly struggled behind the scenes and was “incredibly pensive” over what would come of his wife’s condition.

"It was like being hit by a bus sudden, brutal and completely disorienting,” a close friend of the Prince of Wales expressed in the book. "One moment life was normal, and the next, everything changed. He worships [Kate], truly. She's his world, and when the diagnosis came, it was as if the ground beneath him vanished. He talked about the rug being pulled, but it was more than that, it was heartbreak, fear and helplessness all at once."

The royal couple "both very calmly told the children what was going on and how long Catherine would need to be away for, but explained other than that everything would continue as normal and when she came home, she would need to rest up for a bit,” per a royal aide quoted in the book.

While she was in the hospital, Kate reportedly stayed in close contact with her children — George, Charlotte and Louis — through video chats. The kids would tell their mother about their days at school while she asked whether “Papa” was properly prepping their food.

Although Kate suffered through “a pretty grueling time” during chemotherapy, “her focus was always on her children.”

Kate publicly revealed in March 2024 that cancer was discovered after she underwent planned abdominal surgery in January 2024.

“Tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment,” she explained at the time. “This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.”