On Saturday, Yankees, Britons and tourists alike came from the rain-drenched Big Apple to wish Princess Kate well. Some feared that the video revealing her cancer diagnosis foreshadowed a public backlash similar to that suffered by Princess Diana.
“I was shocked, definitely shocked, and a little upset that she had to make that video in the first place,” said Shirley Curley, 60, of Queens.
“I know she’s royal and I know she signed all of that,” Carly said while sipping traditional British drinks at Tea and Sympathy, an English teahouse in Manhattan. “There is,” he said. She said: “I think enough is enough that she made that video and had to explain her health to someone. They’re doing Princess Diana again.”
British-born owner Nicky Perry, who lost her husband to a brain tumor last year, said a cancer diagnosis is “like a deer in the headlights” for any family.
“I’m really worried about William,” she said of Kate’s husband and heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales.
“He has three small children. His father has cancer. His wife has cancer. He is about to take a big step. For one young man, It’s very difficult…I just hope she’s okay.”
Julieta Pettersson, 85, a tourist from Mexico, said she felt “very disappointed and very sad” when she heard the news.
“The whole thing is terrible,” Pettersson said.
“What she does is her business. She doesn’t have to tell people what she has. It’s private. Let her and her family suffer and leave the public conversation alone. Put it down please.”
