Burnley pastor whose charity COTS is supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales sends goodwill message to Kate Middleton following her cancer diagnosis

After Pastor Mick Fleming founded Church on The Street (COTS) to help the homeless and impoverished in the town, he found support from Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Pastor Mick, whose autobiography includes a foreword by Prince William, says he met the royal couple three times while his wife Sarah was recovering from cancer.

Following the 42-year-old princess’ moving statement earlier this week revealing her cancer diagnosis, the charity founder urges the nation to “get behind” her.

“Cancer is close to our heart. When Kate invited us to Westminster Abbey, my wife Sarah had cancer, which was very serious, and she has children, so we understand the worry and stress of it all. Sarah had cancer five times. When people are diagnosed with it, it touches us because of our faith.

"Prince William wrote the foreword for my book and we have a type of relationship and bond because of that. When we met them in Burnley, they prayed with us both.”

The future king and queen visited COTS in its former Hammerton Street home in January 2022 to see first-hand the work being done to help the growing number of people struggling with addiction, poverty and homelessness in the town.

Talking about the princess’ statement earlier this week, Pastor Mick added: "Kate’s using the opportunity to raise some awareness about cancer. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your status is, cancer is a great leveller. The Princess of Wales has it and Sarah had it: you've got someone working-class from Burnley and the future queen. It's classless. It doesn’t matter about money or prestige. Anybody can have it. We’re all the same.

"We hope the press will leave Kate in peace, which she needs to recover. Cancer absolutely decimates your body. We just wish the family well because she wont get through it on her own, and we hope the nation gets behind her. She mentioned faith in her statement, and for my wife and I, faith has been a very important part of her recovery.”