LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Prince William thanked the British public for their kind messages about his wife Kate following her recent surgery and about his father King Charles after he was diagnosed with cancer as he returned to official duties on Wednesday.

As William took centre stage for the royals, his younger brother Prince Harry, who has become estranged from his family, was set to return to the United States after a flying visit to see their father.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you…for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all.” said William, 41, the Prince of Wales.

“It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather ‘medical’ focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all,” he told a gala dinner for London’s Air Ambulance Charity where guests included Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.

The event was the heir to the throne’s second official public appearance on Wednesday on his return to work having postponed all engagements to look after his three children after Kate, 42, underwent planned abdominal surgery on Jan. 16, and then spent two weeks in hospital recovering.

Since then, his father has undergone treatment at the same hospital for an enlarged prostate, before Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that subsequent tests on the 75-year-old monarch had revealed he had a form of cancer.

With the king postponing public duties to undergo out-patient treatment and Kate not expected to return to engagements until after Easter, the onus is on the remaining royals especially William and Charles’ wife Queen Camilla, to provide the public face of the monarchy.

Item 1 of 6 Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, reacts as he talks with U.S. actor Tom Cruise, at the London Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner at The OWO, in central London, Britain, February 7, 2024.