What Kate’s surprise visit says about her recovery

Analysis by Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Max Foster, CNN

London (CNN) — Catherine, Princess of Wales delighted royal-watchers this week with an unexpected appearance alongside her husband, Prince William.

The couple popped up in Southport, a town in the northwest of England, on Thursday, where the community is still grieving after the murders of three young girls this summer.

William and Kate are thought to have spent around 90 minutes with the families of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, who lost their lives in July when they were attacked while attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

It was also an opportunity for the pair to sit down with some of the emergency services personnel who responded to the scene and hear about their experiences and the mental health support they have received in the months since.

It was an emotional conversation that saw the princess express the couple’s gratitude to the first responders, before comforting and hugging some of those grappling with the traumatic impact of the incident.

“The Princess of Wales broke off and came back into the building to give a hug to the people who responded because she could see the emotion in them and could see it was difficult for them to relay their feelings and to say how impactful events have been,” Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, explained after the engagement, according to the UK’s PA Media news agency.

“I think that just shows a really caring side and is very, very touching for them.”

It was a big moment for the popular 42-year-old royal – her first public outing since wrapping up her chemotherapy treatment.

Royal sources told CNN that the princess’ decision to join William for the visit was not a last-minute call and that she wanted to do it to offer her support, empathy and compassion to the local community in the seaside town.

But wanting to be there and carrying out the engagement are two very different things. Ultimately, her appearance came down to whether she felt well enough on the day.

King Charles previously visited the area in August and it’s clear that the royal family don’t want the town to feel forgotten as the weeks and months pass.

The Southport engagement was designed to be a low-key event and, in fact, had not been previously announced either to the public or the press. However, it quietly supported the princess’ own words from a month ago when she revealed she had completed her cancer treatment.

In a video message, Kate had thrilled royal fans by saying she was “looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.”

Since then, she’s undertaken private meetings on some of her projects at Windsor Castle and carried out a few private visits. It all signals that her recovery is going well.

While aides would not want to jeopardize her recovery by pushing her to appear before she’s ready, the Princess of Wales’ latest appearance shows that she’s back at work, steadily increasing her workload while she continues to get stronger.

This all means she’s likely to keep her workload lighter and that we’ll continue to see these unexpected pop-ups as she makes daily decisions on engagements on a case-by-case basis. And if all continues well, it could mean she takes on more in the new year and perhaps, even, starts traveling again.

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