It is almost 12 months to the day since the Princess of Wales announced she is in remission from cancer – and she is tipped to return with a bang this year with her first foreign trip since 2022.
Kate is reportedly being lined up as Britain’s not-so-secret weapon to woo Donald Trump as he leads the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence celebrations on July 4.
President Trump was said to have been ‘in awe’ of the Princess of Wales when they spent time together at a state dinner in the UK last year.
William has already pencilled in the July US trip, where he also plans to support England at the World Cup.
King Charles will fly to the US in April, following Donald Trump‘s historic second state visit to the UK last September.
The Government hope both trips will strengthen relations with the President and revitalise a key trade deal he has put on ‘pause’.
But amid claims Prince Harry is ‘desperate’ for King Charles to drop in to Montecito when he visits President Trump in the spring, there is ‘no chance’ that William and Kate will consider seeing them, an insider has said.
The Princess of Wales and the President clink glasses following a toast to their two nations at September’s state visit. One source said at the time that Mr Trump was bowled over by the future queen, who is rumoured to be heading over the Atlantic in July
William’s solo trip to the US may now be partly spent with his wife
The couple are considered Britain’s greatest chance to charm Donald Trump – who is a huge fan of the couple, as is his wife Melania.
According to The Times, William’s solo trip to the States could be a joint one with his wife. They were last together in America in 2022.
‘With her health apparently improving, there has been a suggestion that Kate and William will make a joint foreign visit this year, perhaps to the US for the 250th anniversary of independence’, Kate Mansey said.
‘While it may seem a completely ridiculous comparison, it reminds me a bit of dear old David and Victoria Beckham,’ a royal source also told the newspaper.
‘I think the public can spot a genuine relationship and a genuinely strong marriage and two people who fit well together. How strong they are individually, but also as a couple. And I think that’s probably a great asset’.
The Princess of Wales’s last significant overseas trip with Prince William was the 2022 Caribbean tour for the Platinum Jubilee – and then a trip to Boston for Earthshot.
In 2024 she announced she had cancer.
Towards the end of that year she said she had finished her course of ‘preventative chemotherapy’ and would undertake a ‘light programme’ of public engagements.
She warned she was ‘doing what I can to stay cancer free’ and admitted that the previous nine months have been a ‘scary and unpredictable’ time for her family.
On January 14, 2025, Kate announced she was in remission.
William is combining America’s independence celebrations with a football-related trip to the 2026 Fifa World Cup, which is being held in the US as well as Canada and Mexico.
Kensington Palace has not commented on the proposed US trips. But it has been reported that not all formal invitations have yet been extended by the US.
The Daily Mail’s Rebecca English said this week that while there is nothing in the diary, the Princess of Wales’ team are not entirely ruling a foreign trip out as the ‘upwards trajectory’ in her public work following cancer treatment continues.
The King’s planned visit to the US is said to have sparked a plea from Prince Harry to visit him and his family in Montecito.
The Duke of Sussex is hoping that the King will take time out of his busy schedule to spend time with Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.
Charles has not seen them since Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
There are claims that she and William will jet to the US to mark on July 4, 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. A bond and friendship with First Lady Melania Trump has formed over children and scouting
But there is no way William and Kate would do the same, having no contact whatsoever with the Sussexes for years.
One source said last week that after Kate’s cancer battle, she is firmly of the view that life is too short to worry about Harry and his wife.
In September, the Princess of Wales was deployed by the King to charm Donald Trump in an act of expert soft diplomacy that also left his usually-measured wife Melania awestruck and ‘giddy’ in her presence.
In a sure sign Princess Catherine is fast becoming as influential as the King and her husband, she ‘dazzled’ the President and melted his ‘icy-cool’ First Lady.
Kate was strategically placed at Mr Trump’s right-hand side at the extraordinary Windsor Castle state banquet thrown for the President, clinking glasses with him and repeatedly bestowing dazzling smiles upon him during the meal.
One expert told the Daily Mail that her encounter with the leader of the free world ‘reduced the President to a man rather in awe’.
Her work didn’t end there, with Melania Trump then carrying out separate joint engagements with Camilla and the Princess of Wales.
The Wales’ rumoured foreign trip to the US is a sign that her health continues to improve but also she enjoys a very good relationship with Melania Trump, who shares a passion for children and the scouting movement.
William also has a good relationship with her husband President Trump, who is a vocal fan of both Wales’ publicly and privately.
Trump has been very critical of Harry and Meghan, saying he won’t deport the Duke of Sussex because he’s ‘got enough problems’ with his ‘terrible’ wife.
Recent polling shows that William and Kate are more popular in the US than the Sussexes.
Harry’s longstanding dispute over the removal of his taxpayer-funded armed police protection when in the UK stopped him from travelling to the UK with his children.
And with the King’s suffering ill-health as he battled with cancer, a trip in the reverse direction was not on the cards.
However, last month the monarch revealed in an unprecedented video message that his cancer treatment would be significantly scaled back in the New Year.
His Majesty previously shared that he had been diagnosed with the disease in February 2024 after being admitted to hospital for an enlarged prostate.
Prince Harry is reportedly hoping King Charles will take time out of his busy schedule to spend time with Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, when he visits the US later this year (pictured in a holiday photo shared by Meghan)
King Charles leaves after attending the Sunday morning church service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham, Norfolk on January 4, 2026
But since his diagnosis 22 months ago, he has had a major boost in his battle with cancer, describing it as a ‘personal blessing’ – and enhancing the possibility of a reunion with Harry.
Additionally, it now appears that the Prince has won his fight for his round-the-clock security detail to be restored, according to sources close to the Sussexes.
A new intimate profile of Kate reveals that she is in good health at the start of 2026 and there is still zero contact at all with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Friends and insiders have today given a picture of what Kate is really like in private, including her jokes about how ‘feral’ her three children can be – and her habit of losing her phone.
Giovanna Fletcher, the celebrity podcaster and author who has known her for five years, believes that she will be a brilliant queen, who with William will bring about ‘welcome change’.
Ms Fletcher, the wife of musician Tom Fletcher, said that the Princess of Wales is unfairly characterised as the ‘aloof’ and glamorous unofficial ‘head girl of the royal family‘.
‘She’s full of heart. I think she’ll be a queen who really listens, who leans in, who’s very aware of what’s going on’, she said.
‘I don’t feel like it’s ‘us v them’. I think [the Prince and Princess of Wales] are going into it with their eyes completely open. We have to work together as a society to make that change happen [and] I think they get it. They understand things. And so, for that reason, I think it will be a welcome change’.
The Princess of Wales is much more interested in raising her own family than what Prince Harry and his wife are up to, it has been claimed
Kate is in remission and there are claims that she and William will jet to the US to mark on July 4, 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The rumoured foreign trip is a sign that her health continues to improve but also she enjoys a very good relationship with Melania Trump, whose husband President Trump is a vocal fan of her and her husband publicly and privately.
But although the spectre of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle looms large – especially with Harry wishing to spend more time in the UK and a public plea for reconciliation – Kate is not overly bothered, it has been claimed.
There is no contact between the Wales’ and the Sussexes at all – and the future king and queen appear happy to have it that way, especially after the turmoil and grief of Kate’s cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.
In her long read on the Princess of Wales, published today, The Times’ senior royal writer Kate Mansey said: ‘Prince Harry is not in contact with William. After repeatedly taking aim at his brother and sister-in-law, it’s hardly surprising that William and Kate would rather focus on raising their own family’.
She added: ‘If Kate has learnt anything from her cancer ordeal… she’ll know that life’s far too short to get hung up on Harry’.