Kate Middleton Makes Official Return to Public Life

Kate Middleton bounced back into public life Thursday, attending her first official public engagement since she announced she had recovered from cancer.

Princess Kate joined her husband, Prince William , on a trip to the British town of Southport. The town was rocked earlier this year by an unprovoked knife attack which killed three young children attending a Taylor Swift themed dance class.

Although Kate has made two public appearances, going to Wimbledon and attending the king’s birthday parade over the summer, this was her first official public “engagement,” as the palace calls such meet and greets, of the year.

In September she posted an unprecedented and deeply personal video saying that she was cancer free.

Some media outlets including the Daily Telegraph said that Kate had chosen to join her husband “at the last minute” but an official source at Kensington Palace told the Daily Beast that was not an accurate characterization of matters.

William and Kate each spent 30 minutes with the families of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, who were stabbed to death at the event at the Hart Space Community Centre on July 29.

They also met the teacher of the dance class who fought the attacker, and whose bravery in doing so was widely credited with preventing an even worse tragedy.

The couple posted a personal message to their official social media accounts later in the day, signing it “W & C,” for William and Catherine, to make it clear the message was a personal one.

The couple were following in the footsteps of King Charles , who met bereaved families and survivors in the town during the summer.

Read more at The Daily Beast.