The Princess of Wales has carried out her first official work meeting since she began cancer treatment earlier this year.

In another small step on her return to public life, the princess had a meeting on Tuesday in Windsor Castle about her early childhood project.

It follows last week’s video message from Catherine where she revealed her relief that her chemotherapy had ended.

The princess said this year had been “incredibly tough” but she had gained a “renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life”.

This meeting in Windsor was recorded in the Court Circular, which lists royal engagements.

The princess has worked from home and had meetings at home before, but this was the first officially recorded work engagement since her treatment began.

This latest update is part of Catherine’s carefully managed return, which later this year could see her making a small number of public appearances, such as at Remembrance events in November and her annual Christmas carol concert.

This will send a positive message about her recovery. But there is still great caution about her health.

Catherine said in her video last week that her “path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes”.

There are no details or photographs of the meeting, but one of Catherine’s flagship projects has been the Shaping Us campaign, raising awareness about the importance of early childhood, which she has described as her “life’s work”.

This tentative return to work follows a year of health problems.

In January she was in hospital for abdominal surgery and then in March it was revealed that she was undergoing cancer treatment.

There were a couple of public appearances, at Trooping the Colour and the Wimbledon tennis championship, but it has mostly been a year away from the public eye.

Last week’s highly personal video, filmed with her family in Norfolk, described her emotional journey during the months of her cancer treatment – saying that “out of darkness, can come light”.

The princess described the “stormy waters” of her experience of cancer and how it had felt “complex, scary and unpredictable”.

“With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything,” she said.