Princess Beatrice gives rare update on mother Sarah Ferguson’s cancer battle after ‘bumpy health scare’

6 May 2024, 14:20 | Updated: 6 May 2024, 14:25

Princess Beatrice has revealed that her mother is "all clear" after a "bumpy health scare last year".

The 35-year-old said that Sarah Ferguson is "thriving" at 64, having been diagnosed with breast cancer and skin cancer within just a few months of each other.

She said both her and her sister Princess Eugenie are "so proud" of her for "getting the checks that she needs to get" and have "modelled their own health consideration on that".

"We have to support each other when anyone goes through a health scare. There's nothing more important than family," she said on ITV's This Morning.

Beatrice spoke from the top of the Empire State Building in New York for an event in partnership with the charity Outward Bound.

In March, the Duchess of York was told there had been no spread of her skin cancer after another period of surgery.

Sarah was given the news in January after doctors found a malignant melanoma amid a second bout of reconstructive surgery after her breast cancer diagnosis last year.

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The news was a "huge shock" to Prince Andrew's ex-wife but friends said she was determined to "bounce back".

The duchess had additional surgery to look at the area around the mole which was discovered to be malignant, alongside her lymph nodes, according to the Daily Mail.

A friend said that she had recently found out those were all "free of cancer" and doctors did not think the disease had spread.

By undergoing 12-week check-ups, she can stay vigilant, but her prognosis is good and the news is the "best possible outcome she could have hoped for".

The friend said: "It's a huge relief for Sarah and the entire family after the most stressful time and an anxious wait for results."

Whilst doctors are reluctant to use the term 'cancer free' because vigilance is still needed, they said there was cause for optimism.

The friend added: "She is very lucky that the melanoma was caught early thanks to the vigilance of her dermatologist, who asked for a number of moles to be checked while she was undergoing reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy.

"Sarah will now have to have checks every 12 weeks. She's determined that some good comes out of her situation and was heartened to see there was an upsurge in people checking for details of melanoma on the NHS website after she made her diagnosis public."