A little girl who met the Princess of Wales amid her own cancer battle has offered some heartfelt support following the Kate’s bombshell announcement.

Mila Sneddon was just four years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia during the Covid pandemic.

While the world was in lockdown in 2020, an image of Mila smiling at her father through a window captured the hearts of many.

A year or so later, Mila’s dream of meeting the princess came true, after she featured in Kate’s photography book.

Kate’s own announcement of her diagnosis on Saturday coincided with the anniversary of Mila’s remission. On Sunday (British time), the now eight-year-old offered her own warm words to comfort the royal as she is treated for an unspecified cancer.

“She will be brave because I was, and she will fight it like I did,” Mila said, according to The Mirror newspaper.

Tweet from @SneddonLynda

Mila’s mother, Lynda Sneddon said on X the family was saddened to hear about Kate’s diagnosis. Adding to Mila’s touching message, Sneddon said she was optimistic the princess will pull through.

“She is a mum, a wife, she is young, beautiful, athletic and she is facing this,” she said.

“It shows cancer doesn’t discriminate, it can affect anyone at any time. We wish her a peaceful and speedy recovery.”

Mila and Kate first spoke on the phone in 2020, when the little girl revealed her favourite colour was pink. When the two eventually met face-to-face, Kate wore a pink dress.

The two enjoyed morning tea at the Edinburgh’s Palace of Hollyrood House in 2021, while Mila wore a tiara and a pink dress herself.

Tweet from @SneddonLynda

Just before Covid lockdowns began in the UK, the Sneddon family made the difficult decision to isolate in different households, to protect Mila, who was just four months into chemotherapy.

“As Mila’s dad Scott had to continue to work and her big sister Jodi was still attending school, we could not risk the possibility of infection being brought home, so they would visit every day at the window,” Sneddon said of the photograph of Mila’s dad, Scott, smiling at her through the window.

Shielding Mila, was the photograph Sneddon snapped on day one of Mila’s isolation. The striking image was published in Kate’s book Hold Still, a community photography project that captured life in Britain in the early days of the pandemic.

The princess announced in video message on Friday that she had been diagnosed with cancer. Her announcement followed months of absence and wild conspiracy theories following Kate’s abdominal surgery in January.

In addition to Mila’s kind words, world leaders have expressed support for the princess and people have apologised for spreading rumours about why Kate had been missing in action.