Last month, the Princess of Wales made the extremely difficult decision to announce that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Sitting on a bench in the spring sunshine with daffodils and a cherry blossom tree behind her, Kate revealed that the disease had been found after previously being told her condition - for which she underwent planned abdominal surgery in January - was cancerous.
Now, leading royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith has praised the Princess' courage in making the news public and points out that she would have had to overcome her "inherently shy" nature in order to make the announcement.
Sally Bedell Smith told PEOPLE that Kate, 42, was "sincere, dignified, poised, and she was forthright" in her delivery, but the announcement likely wasn't easy. "She is inherently shy, and for her to do that took a lot," Bedell Smith said.