Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has been diagnosed with cancer and has received treatment for the second time in six months.
The Duchess’ team said this evening that her dermatologist made the shock diagnosis of malignant melanoma after having several moles removed and checked.
Representatives used the opportunity to underline the “importance of checking the size, shape, colour and texture and emergence of new moles that can be a sign of melanoma”.
But they added the news was understandably “distressing” for the royal, who had only recently received treatment for breast cancer.
The news comes just six months after she received a single mastectomy for breast cancer and as she reportedly embraced the “journey back to full health” for the illness.
While little has been publicised about Duchess Fergie’s health struggles over the years, the royal admitted in 2022 that she once received decades’ worth of therapy.
Speaking to Hello! Magazine, she said she, like millions of other Britons, has mental health struggles on which she works “literally every day”.
She admitted she has been “in therapy for 24 years”, and that she occasionally speaks to her therapist on a “weekly basis”.
She added: “Sometimes when it gets really tough, I jump in and get a quick hit of trying to understand the negativity of the demons of my mind.”
Fergie was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram at the Royal Free Hospital screening in the summer of 2023.
She was “rapidly” diagnosed with the illness, and doctors were able to quickly isolate a “shadow” on her breast by using a contrast injection.
She told the podcast “Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah” that she felt no symptoms, and received treatment later that year in the form of a single mastectomy.
She said the experience underlined the “importance of regular screening” for women.
The Duchess received her skin cancer diagnosis as she underwent breast reconstruction surgery following her diagnosis with breast cancer.
A spokesperson for the royal said that, like her previous diagnosis, the cancer was likely caught early, but investigations were ongoing.
They said: “She is undergoing further investigations to ensure that this has been caught in the early stages.
“Clearly, another diagnosis so soon after treatment for breast cancer has been distressing, but the Duchess remains in good spirits.”
