But her family - and the nation gave her the strength to carry on.
This breathtakingly intimate film laid bare what the power of love can do to help carry a cancer sufferer through the dark days and long nights.
And, as Catherine wanted us to know, her journey isn't over yet. "My path to healing and full recovery is long," she said.
"I take each day as it comes." The words were reassuring, softly spoken. The images that accompanied them reinforced her message but went much further opening a new narrative on Catherine and William's family life, giving the world an unprecedented insight into their loving relationship. Never before has there been a film that shed so much light on a royal couple's private life, and it served as a reminder that Catherine who we've missed so much has a colossal dual role, as a princess and fashion icon but also as a wife and mother.
Eloquent
The focus on her since her marriage to William in 2011 has been intense, but rather than beg for more time to recover and present an image to the world of health and beauty as we've come to expect from a Princess of Wales - she promises she'll be back with us, undertaking more engagements "when I can".
That phrase is just a reminder of the fragile world she has inhabited these past nine months since it was revealed she was suffering from cancer.
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