The Prince of Wales has sent his first personal social media message since January, as he breaks from his Easter holiday to congratulate an England footballer on her retirement.

The Prince, who has spent the Easter break with his wife and three young children after the Princess announced she was undergoing treatment for cancer, tweeted his thanks to Rachel Daly for her “unforgettable performances”.

As president of the Football Association and an Aston Villa fan, he wrote:

The message was signed “W”, denoting it was sent by the Prince personally.

The last time he posted under his initial was on Jan 9, for a tribute to rugby player JPR Williams.

The Waleses made a joint post wishing their followers a Merry Christmas on Dec 25.

Since then, the family has undergone significant challenges, with the Princess first being hospitalised for major abdominal surgery which left her out of the public eye for weeks.

She later filmed a personal message, published on March 30, to tell the world her medical team had found cancer, and that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy.

The Prince, Princess and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, have since retreated to spend the school holiday together, out of the public eye.

The Prince will resume his public engagements next week, when the children return to school.

He is expected to balance his duties with caring for his wife and maintaining stability for the family.

On Wednesday, the Kensington Palace X account issued a personal message for Daly, replying to her own post marking her retirement, which read: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

She added the England flag and a heart emoji.

The 32-year-old player won 84 senior caps for the Lionesses and scored 16 goals. She started every match of the Euro 2022 tournament, which the Lionesses won, and reached their first World Cup final last year.