Kate Middleton Breaks Silence with Personally Signed Message—and a Brand-New Photo with Her 3 Kids

After months away from the spotlight as she recovers from abdominal surgery, Kate Middleton has broken her silence with a personally signed message. And she did so in a social media post alongside a brand-new photo of herself posing with her three kids.

On Sunday morning, the official Instagram account of the Prince and Princess of Wales shared the never-before-seen photo featuring Princess Catherine, 42, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5. The post came in honor of the U.K. version of Mother’s Day (which falls on a different day than the U.S. version).

The photo features the princess seated and surrounded by her children, who are all smiling. It’s easy to imagine why they might be smiling so large, as the person behind the camera is none other than their father, Prince William, 41. Seems like the Prince of Wales is taking a photography page out of his wife’s book after all these years.

The message accompanying the post read, “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”

How do we know this was a personal message from the princess herself and not a royal aide? She signed the message with her initial, “C”. And how do we know the prince was the photographer? The message gave him photo credit of course.

Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

There has been much ado made of the princess’s absence in the weeks since her January surgery (even though Kensington Palace made it quite clear that she would be recovering privately until at least Easter). Royal fans were thrilled to hear from Princess Catherine and to see a photo of her looking so well. The comments section of the post was filled with compliments and well wishes.

This isn’t the only post shared in honor of Mother’s Day. Buckingham Palace also released an image of a young King Charles kissing his mother’s hand.

In an obvious nod to the late Queen Elizabeth and the late Princess Diana, the post was captioned, “Wishing all Mothers, and those who are missing their Mums today, a peaceful Mothering Sunday.”

We’re thrilled to have a glimpse of the princess and wish her the best during the rest of her recovery.

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