Fans are getting a positive update about Kate Middleton amid her cancer battle. Royal expert Katie Nicholl tells ET that the Princess of Wales “has turned a corner” in her cancer treatment.

“She’s tolerating this preventative chemotherapy better. I think she had a hard time in the beginning. These are strong drugs that she’s on, but she’s she’s tolerating it better, and she’s doing better,” Nicholl says. “We’ve had reports from members of the public that she’s been out and about. I’ve heard from from certain people that… she’s out with the children. That’s a really positive sign.”

Also a positive sign is an update from Kate’s husband, Prince William. During a recent event commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, William responded to a veteran who asked him if Kate was “getting any better.”

“Yes, she’d love to be here today,” William replied. “I was reminding everyone her grandmother served at Bletchley Park, so she had quite a few in common with some of the ladies here who were at Bletchley.”

Nicholl adds of William’s statement, “Of course it’s inevitable that he’s going to be asked about Catherine, because I think we look at an event like that, where you’ve got the royals out in full force, and we feel her absence very strongly.”

William’s comment, combined with reports of sightings of Kate out with her children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 — “paints a very positive picture,” Nicholl says.

With that in mind, Nicholl says that Kate “is absolutely going to return to public duties” at some point, but notes that it’s “incredibly unlikely” she will do so before the Trooping the Colour event on June 15.

“She has made it very clear that she wants to stay out of the spotlight,” Nicholl explains. “She needs this period and below the radar for her recovery. We’re so used to seeing her up on that balcony.”

Nicholl additionally speculates, “It’s going to feel very different without seeing her, so I’m wondering if perhaps we might see the Wales children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.”

“They’ve been up there several times now. They are always impeccably behaved, often entertaining, and they always seem to enjoy it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if William makes the decision to bring them,” she says. “They’re not working members of the royal family yet, but they will be. Prince George is a future king, so for the public to be able to see George, Charlotte and Louis on occasions like this is really quite important.”

Kate’s likely Trooping the Colour absence shouldn’t be read into or taken as a sign of the what’s to come in the future, Nicholl assures.

“Everything I hear from the palace, from those close to the princess, is that she’s absolutely determined to get back to the job to pick up where she left off and to do the wonderful work that she was doing as Princess of Wales,” she says. “I think what this shows all of us is how absolutely vital she is to the monarchy. The monarchy needs her, and therefore we need her to be better.”

“She needs that time and that space to make a full and complete recovery,” Nicholl adds. “Her and William are very much driven by what they do, and she’s determined to get back… It is her absolute ambition, determination, and intention to be back to work.”

After all, Nicholl reminds, Kate said in her initial video message announcing the news of her diagnosis that she’d be undergoing treatment privately.

“We were told when she was diagnosed that we weren’t going to be getting regular updates, that she was going to be taking this time out of the spotlight. I think it’s just difficult for people to adjust to to not seeing the Princess of Wales at important days,” Nicholl says. “It does take some time for the public to sort of adjust to not seeing the Princess of Wales… but she needs this time out of the spotlight. She really needs this time to recover.”

“She’s going through very grueling treatment that has really taken its toll on her. While I’m told that she’s turned a corner and she’s doing better, she’s still going to be prone to infection as she goes through this preventative chemotherapy. She’s going to be very careful about who she she’s coming into contact with. She’s not going to want to put herself at any risk,” she adds. “Therefore, being out of the spotlight and being quiet, not entertaining, not being with too many people, really just keeping herself very much below the radar within that tight family that she has, is absolutely paramount to her full recovery.”