Zoe Ball has revealed Prince William wrote her "beautiful" letters during her mother's illness.

The presenter took time out from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show to be with her mother Julia Ball after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2024. Speaking to Jo Whiley on their Dig It! podcast, Zoe recalled how the royal reached out to offer words of comfort during the difficult time.

"Prince William wrote to me when my mum was poorly," Zoe said. "He wrote the most beautiful letter and he wrote to me again after we lost mum. There was a really amazing moment when mum was really, really poorly, and I went up to see her. My brother was there. I said, 'Mum, we've had a letter.'"

Zoe announced her mother's cancer diagnosis in March 2024, with Julia passing away the following month. Before her death, the 54-year-old presenter made sure Julia knew the royal family were thinking of her.

"I read her Prince William's letter," Zoe recalled. "And at the time he was going through his own difficulties with both his father and his lovely wife going through their cancer journey. And I thought it was so kind of him to take the time to write. And it meant the world to her. "She loved that letter."

William was experiencing his own family health battles last year, with his wife Catherine completing a course in preventive chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis discovered after abdominal surgery in early 2024. His father King Charles III was also undergoing going treatment for an undisclosed cancer.