The Princess of Wales has disclosed that she relied on colouring as a therapeutic outlet while undergoing chemotherapy, after finding herself unable to concentrate on reading or other tasks.
During a visit to the Christie cancer care hospital last month, Catherine, 44, spoke candidly with patients about the cognitive challenges she faced during treatment.
“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have the ability to read or really focus on anything,” she told them, in footage that surfaced on social media on Tuesday.
She described the activity as “[just] a way of playing and losing yourself,” explaining that it appealed to her precisely because it “did not require an end product, or an end finished piece.”
The Princess of Wales has disclosed that she relied on colouring as a therapeutic outlet while undergoing chemotherapy, after finding herself unable to concentrate on reading or other tasks
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The difficulty Catherine experienced is widely recognised among cancer patients.
Often termed “chemo brain” or “chemo fog,” this cognitive dysfunction manifests as impaired concentration and clouded thinking during treatment.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the precise causes remain unclear, though a combination of factors, including the chemicals used in treatment, stress, pain and disrupted sleep, are thought to contribute.
Catherine first revealed her cancer diagnosis in March 2024 and concluded her course of chemotherapy that September.
During a visit to the Christie cancer care hospital last month, Catherine, 44, spoke candidly with patients about the cognitive challenges she faced during treatment
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By January 2025, she announced she was in remission and gradually resumed her public engagements and royal duties.
The Princess of Wales’s connection to the arts stretches back well before her diagnosis. She studied art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, graduating in 2005.
Her fondness for colouring books was publicly revealed a decade later by Prince William himself.
In 2016, while presenting illustrator Johanna Basford with an OBE for services to art and entrepreneurship, the prince let slip his wife’s hobby.
Catherine described colouring as ‘[just] a way of playing and losing yourself,’ explaining that it appealed to her precisely because it ‘did not require an end product, or an end finished piece’
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GETTY
“Prince William actually said that his wife likes to colour in Secret Garden, which was really sweet,” Ms Basford recounted to reporters at the time.
The following year, a Catherine-themed colouring book even went on sale at Kensington Palace.
Beyond her own creative pursuits, Catherine has been a vocal champion of artistic expression within her family.
Last autumn, during a visit to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes in London, she spoke about the significance of “making and crafting” as a means of building community.
She also noted that Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight, had spent their summer “crafting in every corner of the house.”
Through her Shaping Us initiative from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, Catherine has consistently highlighted creative play’s role in child development, sharing portraits her children had drawn of her to illustrate how art fosters connection and emotional growth.