Prince William returned to public duties on Thursday after taking almost a month off following Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, and on Friday joined the last of wartime SAS ‘original’ Mike Sadler Memorial service for Major.

Mike Sadler, who relied on the stars to navigate the deserts of North Africa, died in January at the age of 103.

The Prince of Wales visited Hereford Cathedral on Friday morning as part of Sadler’s memorial service and used his move to update on the health of his cancer-stricken wife, Kate Middleton.

William’s latest move suggests Kate Middleton is in good health and the future king has taken steps to attend the funeral.

In March, William unexpectedly pulled out of a memorial service for Greece’s late former King Constantine, where he had been scheduled to read. It later emerged that this was due to Catherine’s cancer diagnosis and preventive chemotherapy.

Royal correspondent Richard Palmer shared news of William’s recent outing on X (formerly Twitter).

Mike’s remarkable career included time as a farmer, sailor, soldier and spy. After D-Day, he parachuted into France, worked for MI6, and had part of Antarctica named after him.

During his service, Sadler had no GPS, satellites or reliable landmarks in the vast, moving dunes where early SAS attacks were launched. Therefore, he relied on the sun, stars, and dead reckoning systems to measure distance and direction.

In December 1941, just five months after the SAS was formed, Sadler took part in the first successful attack on Wadi Tammet airfield, where a six-man team destroyed 24 Axis warplanes and a fuel depot.

Kate has been out of sight since she excitedly revealed in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment in a video message to the nation. The future queen is said to be enjoying some private time with William as the children return to school.

The Prince of Wales still appears keen to protect his family, according to experts.