Kate Middleton 'lost herself' in calming hobby during cancer treatment after being left with 'no ability to focus on anything'
She admitted this was 'just a way of playing' and didn't require an 'end product' which was very freeing for her
The Princess of Wales has talked about plenty of her hobbies in the past, from hockey to cold water swimming, but whilst receiving cancer treatment she turned to something else. Kate visited The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in June and confessed to patients and staff that she struggled to even read a book during her chemotherapy.
"I don't know about you, but I didn't really have the ability to read or focus on anything," she said in a moment that's captured in a recently resurfaced video. "And actually colouring was my way of exploring interesting things."
The Princess loved "being able to do something that didn't require an end product or an end finished piece". As per Hello!, colouring was "just a way of playing and losing yourself" and she explained how "lots of thoughts came up in that process."
We don't know exactly what colouring Kate was doing, though her comments about it not requiring an "end product" suggests it was quite simple. She could've bought an adult colouring book and not put pressure on herself to complete each picture.
This seems quite likely, particularly since Prince William once told illustrator Johanna Basford about his wife enjoying her colouring books.
In 2020 Johanna posted a throwback of her and the future King when she was being awarded her OBE and shared, "He told me his wife likes my books. She colours. Kate is one of us! Now this makes perfect sense. Why wouldn't she? A busy mum with what I imagine is a lot of stress, trying to raise and protect a family."
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This colouring book also comes with a large, double-sided pull-out poster and it's filled with different animals and plants for you to shade in with whatever tones you like. The illustrations are meticulously created with ink and pen and include depictions of tigers, hummingbirds and speckled tree frogs.
This pack comes with 36 different highly pigmented coloured pencils that come already sharpened so you're ready to draw at once. The formula is oil based so the pencils blend and layer easily on paper and the pencils are also break-resistant.
Released to mark the 10th anniversary of Johanna's best-selling Secret Garden colouring book, this features two new specially-commissioned illustrations. The ink and pen illustrations take you on a garden tour and there are pictures to colour in, as well as mazes to complete and space for your own drawings.
This was long before the Princess was diagnosed with cancer, but it seems she already knew about colouring. Adult colouring books are a great way to occupy your mind and some people credit them with helping with their anxiety and mindfulness.
Colouring clearly helped Kate with "losing herself" in an activity and it's very different to the artwork she normally does. She did a History of Art degree and we've seen her sketches before, including the picture of St Andrews she did whilst studying there.
Even though she found it hard to "focus", finding another creative outlet during treatment was important for her. In an Instagram post after her visit to The Christie, the future Queen said that meeting patients, families and staff there was a "powerful reminder that healing is about so much more than treatment alone".
"A cancer diagnosis affects every part of life, in mind, body and the deeper part of ourselves" she said, adding, "The Christie's commitment to holistic care, from art therapy and wellbeing spaces to emotional and spiritual support, helps people navigate not only illness, but the profound impact it can have on quality of life."
Art means a lot to her and author Tina Brown claimed in The Palace Papers that Kate used to visit London's galleries and museums around 8am to "nourish her inner life".
Once, when she was recognised by a member of the public at a David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy, Kate apparently replied, "I miss my history of art. It's what I do to get my fix."
