Catherine, Princess of Wales, takes a significant step in her recovery from cancer this weekend, as she attends formal events alongside her father-in-law King Charles III to remember Britain's war dead.

While in South Africa for the Earthshot Prize, the prince told reporters that the cancer diagnoses of his wife, Catherine, and his father, King Charles, had been “brutal.”

“It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life,” William told reporters in South Africa on Thursday, as he concluded his four-day visit to the country, per the BBC. “So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.”