A LOW PROFILE

Cancer-stricken Kate isn't rushing her return to public life but behind the scenes she's keeping busy with work and family life

- NICOLA WHITFIELD

A LITTLE bit of light went out in the world the day she sat alone on a bench in Windsor and told us she had cancer.

The Princess of Wales is the standout star of the royal family, the main drawcard at big events, the person everyone wants to see during walkabouts.

She seemed invincible, a healthy young woman with seemingly boundless energy who was always smiling, always up for a bit of fun.

Now we haven't seen her in public for nearly six months - and who knows when we will again. There have been reports she might not be back until at least autumn in the UK and some royal insiders believe we may not see her before 2025.

But there has been a glimmer of hope. Veteran royal writer Katie Nicholl, who has close sources within the royal family, recently wrote in Vanity Fair that the princess "has turned a corner" in her cancer battle and is responding well to chemotherapy.

"It has been a great relief that she's tolerating the medication and is actually doing a lot better," a family friend of Kate's told Nicholl.

"It has, of course, been a very challenging and worrying time. Everyone has rallied around her - William, her parents and her sister and brother." Kate has also apparently been present at the occasional drop-off at Lambrook school in Windsor for George (10), Charlotte (9) and Louis (6) - although no parent at the school is prepared to talk about it.

"We all feel very protective of her," one told The Daily Beast's royal correspondent, Tom Sykes. "Ask anyone at the school - she and William are amazing parents." The children have been Kate's and William's main focus and the princess made it clear in her 22 March cancer announcement that easing the road ahead for the kids was her top priority.

Nicholl says a well-placed source told her Kate is no rush to return to work.