Prince William’s first return to royal duties following his father King Charles III’s cancer announcement and Kate Middleton’s hospitalization for abdominal surgery.

The 41-year-old future king thanked the public at a charity gala dinner for their “kind messages of support” after publicly discussing his family’s health problems for the first time. He had presided over an investiture at Windsor Castle earlier in the day.

“The past few weeks have been, shall we say, medically focused, so I figured I’d come to an air ambulance function to escape it all,” he continued in a lighthearted manner.

The queen, a former pilot for air ambulance helicopters, attended the black-tie event where she met other pilots and had conversations with celebrities including Tom Cruise.