In her podcast, Sarah Ferguson said she wanted "every single person that is listening... to go get checked, go get screened".

The duchess said she hadn't felt like going but attended a screening a few weeks ago at the insistence of her sister.

"I will normally do what she says because she gets so cranky. And she said, No, go, I need you to go. I need you to go," said the 63-year-old.

She said she went to an NHS check-up at London's Royal Free Hospital and it showed an early form of the disease - a "shadow" - that needed to be "immediately sorted".

"I've talked to so many sufferers with cancer, that I can glean from them certain tips that can help me through this moment," the duchess said.

"I'm taking this as a real gift to me to change my life, to nurture myself - to stop trying to fix everyone else," she added.

The duchess's frank comments on her Tea Talk podcast, released today, come after her spokesman said at the weekend that her surgery had "taken place successfully".

"The duchess is receiving the best medical care, and her doctors have told her that the prognosis is good," the spokesman added.

"She is now recuperating with her family.

"The duchess wants to express her immense gratitude to all the medical staff who have supported her in recent days."

It's understood that on Sunday she left the private King Edward VII's Hospital in London, which has been treating members of the Royal Family for decades, and is now back home in Windsor.

The duchess has two daughters with her former husband, the Duke of York - Princess Beatrice, 34, and Princess Eugenie, 33.

Beatrice was spotted with friends at Glastonbury on Sunday, the final day of the festival, and was at Royal Ascot earlier this week.