It’s likely senior royals won’t be too sorry to say goodbye to 2024 – a year that has brought about plenty of testing challenges.

Princess Kate, who is now thankfully cancer-free after completing her preventative chemotherapy treatment, has shown a rare candidness in recent months, opening up about how her shock diagnosis has affected her young family, and her perspective on life.

Meanwhile, King Charles III, who was diagnosed with cancer in February, has also been undergoing weekly treatment, which he paused briefly last month during his nine-day tour of Australia.

As The Firm counts down to the festive season, and King Charles’ Christmas address to the nation, it’s likely they’ll be reflecting on the trials they’ve tackled together as they look ahead to 2025. And one expert claims these trials will have strengthened existing bonds in the palace.

In his upcoming book Charles III, an extract of which has now been published in the Mail Online, royal correspondent and author Robert Hardman explained how the ‘core family group’ had been brought closer together. Meanwhile, Prince William has been stepping up in his relatively new role as Prince of Wales, in a way that has reminded insiders of his father the King, in his younger years.

Hardman, whose latest biography will be published on November 7, explained: “The events of 2024 had brought the core family group together even more but the Waleses would still guard their autonomy, such as it is, very carefully. That came as no surprise to those who knew the King when he was at a similar stage of life.

“William is just doing what his father did,’ says a former member of staff who worked for the King in princely days. If Prince Charles was ever asked to do something by Buckingham Palace, he would triple-ask. He would say: ‘Who told you? Why?’ He might well ring his mother to check.”

According to Hardman, this cautious approach is due to William being keen to avoid any ‘suggestion that he was trying to step into the monarch’s shoes or that he was being manipulated by scheming courtiers’. However, it’s understood that those close to the family have been impressed by how the father-of-three has stepped up during what has been an extremely ‘stressful’ year, with his ‘statesmanlike’ approach revealing his ‘strength of character’

Hardman added: “One member of the Royal Household was particularly struck by the sight of the Prince, in the midst of all the issues at home, standing alongside Presidents Biden and Macron, as well as other heads of state and government, at Omaha Beach in Normandy, representing the United Kingdom in the absence of the King and Prime Minister.

“There he was among twenty-odd world leaders, having just done events with the Canadians at Juno Beach and a walkabout in the crowd at Arromanches, speaking a bit of French, following big events in Portsmouth the day before – and he looked entirely comfortable and statesmanlike.

“We know about his commitment to duty and service. But what you’ve seen since the start of this year, more than ever, is the Prince of Wales’s strength of character.”

Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]. Follow Mirror Celebs onTikTok,Snapchat,Instagram,Twitter,Facebook,YouTubeandThreads