Prince William's message amid Kate Middleton's recovery hints at her condition

Prince William dropped a hint about the condition of his wife, Kate Middleton, after she underwent surgery January 17 for an undisclosed abdominal issue at The London Clinic.

As a result of that, she has been largely incapacitated from royal duties and will only return to them fully after the Easter period as she recovers from the very hushed surgery on the advice of doctors at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

But nobody really knows what the surgery was for, and earlier speculation is that it was to remove trauma induced by her labors that might have caused her to suffer acid refluxes causing morning sickness.

A possible procedure touted was also hysterectomy, the removal of the uterus, as the future Queen is in her 40s with three children and is due to go through her menopause any year now, if she already hasn't.

Whatever it was is non-cancerous, according to the only bit of information released by Middleton, but it was severe enough to essentially knock her out for a while as she needs not just her husband, but her parents and siblings to function through daily life in her recovery

When will William return?

The family has rallied around her, with Middleton's parents helping to look after Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, who are all young children, whilst Prince William himself has briefly stepped back from his own obligations to look after his wife indefinitely.

"We still don't have a date for when William will return," Matt Wilkinson said to The Sun. "So, we're just in that situation where [the Princess of Wales] is at home, waiting for her to be settled, before we see William again.

"We know Kate won't be back till after Easter. But I think William, as a devoted father and husband, can just take as long as Kate needs him to be there and that's the message, they're sending out to us."