The Princess of Wales has spoken about her recovery from cancer in a rare interview for a special issue of Country Life magazine guest-edited by her husband, the Prince of Wales.
Kate talked with author Robert Macfarlane, known for his writings on landscapes and the living world, about finding solace in nature for the special bumper issue, published on Wednesday.
Nature as a Sanctuary
The princess described nature as offering something unique, saying: "It doesn't ask anything of us. It doesn't judge us or expect us to perform."
She added: "It simply allows us to be. It really has been my sanctuary and a place I've instinctively wanted to go."
Echoing remarks she made previously about her cancer journey, Kate said: "I was told in hospital that my recovery would not be linear. There will be good days and bad days, that it will take time."
Hope and Connection
Asked by Macfarlane where she finds hope, Kate replied that she did so in the lessons taught by nature "that, despite the challenges life may throw at us, we are not alone and that we're interconnected with something bigger than ourselves".
The writer told the princess he found hope in watching communities help to protect rivers. Kate replied: "I couldn't agree more. It is the sense of hope we find in the darkest of times. We need to find the things that we can do alongside others, ways to connect and give back."
Childhood Memories and Parenting
Kate also praised Mind Over Mountains, a charity offering professional mental fitness support by combining walking in nature, mindfulness and time with experienced wellbeing counsellors.
The princess talked about how her love of nature began in childhood, when she would spend time playing in streams, blackberry picking or "simply time alone in my own world, enjoying the simplicity of ordinary things", and how she felt a sense of freedom "that is hard to find elsewhere".
She described how she parents her own children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, saying: "It is something I remind myself to do with my own children; to give them freedom to explore, rather than constantly telling them what to see or what to think."
William is following in the footsteps of his father the King, stepmother Queen Camilla and aunt the Princess Royal by guest-editing the weekly magazine.
