A small-town pub in rural North Norfolk, England, welcomed a surprise guest over the weekend of April 6: Prince William. “It was all very low-key, with no great fanfare,” a patron told a media outlet. “He appeared to be with his mother-in-law, Carole Middleton.”

Princess Kate did not join them. “She was home at Anmer Hall,” says a source, adding that Carole has moved in with the family at their Norfolk estate to help Kate, who announced on March 22 she has cancer. “Her mother has been a rock for them because their home life has changed a lot. Kate has been able to rely on William, her mother, and those in her inner circle to help her with the children while she focuses on getting through chemotherapy, fighting this disease — and adjusting to her new normal.”

PROTECTING THE KIDS

The children are her priority. Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 6, are the reason Kate, 42, waited so long to share the heartbreaking news about her health. "Kate handled a difficult and tricky situation incredibly well...to have to deal with [her] children and then have to offer explanations in such a public scenario," her uncle, Gary Goldsmith, has said. She wanted to protect them for as long as she could, adds the source, "to make sure they understood that she was going to be OK and felt safe before she announced it to the world." 

But once she released the video, adds the source, "there was definitely a sense of relief because it put an end to all the wild speculation about why she hadn't been seen for so long after her surgery. Now she can recover in relative privacy, with her family around her."