LONDON  -  Catherine, Princess of Wales, has said she is “enormously touched” by the sup­port she has received from around the world following her shock announce­ment that she is being treated for cancer. Catherine, 42, revealed Friday that she was undergoing preventative chemo­therapy in a video message to the UK, triggering a wave of support from global leaders, family members and the public. “The prince and princess are both enor­mously touched by the kind messages from people here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ mes­sage,” Catherine and her husband Prince William, the heir to the throne, said in a statement released late Saturday. “They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.” The announce­ment ended weeks of speculation about Catherine’s health, with many praising her courage and others criticising the conspiracies that spread over her ab­sence. The candid disclosure leaves the British monarchy in crisis with King Charles III just weeks ago revealing he was also battling cancer. Charles -- who was just 17 months into his reign when Buckingham Palace announced in Feb­ruary he would be cancelling all public engagements -- led tributes to his “be­loved daughter-in-law”. The 75-year-old monarch spoke of his pride in “her courage in speaking as she did”. Fol­lowing other warm words from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the White House, British newspapers hailed her courage. “Kate, you are not alone” read the front page of The Sun. The tabloid said it was “hugely comfort­ing” to hear Kate say she was getting stronger. “Perhaps the world will now appreciate why so much secrecy sur­rounded her surgery in January,” it add­ed. The Daily Mail tabloid denounced the “social media trolls who have been peddling disgusting conspiracy theories to explain her absence from public life”.Finance minister Jeremy Hunt, whose younger brother died of cancer last year, told Sky News on Sunday that “the thing that really cut me to the quick was when she explained the hardest thing of all for people who’ve had cancer in their family, which is how you tell your kids”. Outside Kensington Palace in London, Nathaniel Taylor, a 24-year-old government work­er, said: “I think it’s really damning what happened to them, what the media has done, how they’ve reacted over these past couple of months. “I think some speculation is inevitable but the lengths people were going to try and make things up, it’s just... Hopefully people take a look in the mirror.” In her statement, Kate, as the princess is widely known, said the diagnosis was a “huge shock” and asked for “time, space and privacy” as she com­pletes chemotherapy. In the video -- re­corded on Wednesday in Windsor, west of London, where the future queen and king live with their three young children -- she insisted she was “well”.She said it had taken them time to explain the situ­ation to Prince George, aged 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis, “and to reassure them that I am going to be OK”.Buckingham Palace had announced on February 5 that tests had identified Charles had “a form of cancer”, without giving further details.