The Observer view on The Princess of Wales: calm
and courage amid a family already beset by crises
Observer
editorial
Catherine’s moving message revealing her treatment for
cancer showed a candour that the monarchy has often lacked
Sat 23 Mar
2024 15.39 GMT
The video
recording in which Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she is undergoing
treatment for cancer will be remembered as a moving personal testament and a
public profile in courage at a time of great challenges for the monarchy.
Catherine’s demeanour was calm, her clothes and appearance ordinary, her voice
steady, although the strain showed behind her eyes. Yet most of all, it was
Catherine’s bravery that shone through as she described the “incredibly tough”
two months that she, her husband and children have endured since her illness,
so shocking and unexpected, was first diagnosed.
All those
people across Britain who are afflicted by cancer – the total is about 3
million, with about 1,000 new diagnoses each day – and relatives and friends
whose lives are upended by the disease will identify closely with the feelings
Catherine expressed or intimated. Fear for the future, present pain, the often
distressing side effects of modern treatments, worry about the impact on the
children: such thoughts besiege and oppress the mind even as the body
struggles. Catherine spoke vicariously for all who suffer.
This
ability – to speak for and to speak to all of this country’s less exalted, less
heard, less fortunate “ordinary” people – is a quality that the monarchy, in
its uncertain, slightly anachronistic national leadership role, needs badly and
has often lacked. It is essential to its continued relevance and popular
support. Kate Middleton, the middle-class girl from the home counties whose
very surname smacked of ordinariness, has occupied that treacherous common
ground from the moment she and William married at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
Catherine’s
positive, smiling personality, obvious commitment to her role as a mother and
lack of airs and graces have helped make her the most popular younger royal
since Princess Diana. Her normalising presence has proved especially important
as the royal family experienced a string of difficulties. In hindsight, the
death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the close of the second Elizabethan era
triggered a period of turmoil. It has brought a cancer diagnosis for the late
queen’s son and successor, King Charles III, further disgrace of Prince Andrew
and damaging ructions over the maverick behaviour of Prince Harry.
Catherine’s
key role in keeping “the Firm” afloat means her prospective absence from public
duties for the foreseeable future will be all the more deeply felt in
Buckingham Palace. With the king also out of action – like Catherine, the type
of cancer he is suffering from has not been revealed – and with two princes in
self-imposed or enforced exile, an already supposedly “slimmed down” monarchy
begins to look depleted, overstretched and vulnerable. Yet this is not the
moment for republicans to re-open the debate about its future. That must come,
in time. But not now.
Right now,
Catherine and her family deserve and must be afforded the privacy, time and
personal space for which she has asked, in order that she completes a full
recovery. Cancer charities have rightly praised her openness about her
condition. Catherine has been laudably candid after weeks of unfair, sometimes
malicious, speculation on social media and the international press. We wish her
well over the difficult weeks and months ahead.
Catherine
became a fairytale princess – the girl with everything. And yet, so it turns
out, hers was not a charmed life after all. Her challenge
is everywoman’s and everyman’s.
Princess of Wales ‘enormously touched’ by
messages of support after cancer diagnosis
Kensington Palace says Catherine and Prince William
are ‘extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support’
Guardian
staff and agencies
Sun 24 Mar
2024 04.09 GMT
The
Princess of Wales and her husband, Prince William, have been “enormously
touched” by the messages of support received since she announced her cancer
diagnosis, a Kensington Palace spokesperson has said.
Catherine
said on Friday she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after tests done
following her major abdominal surgery in January revealed cancer had been
present.
The
42-year-old wife of the heir to the throne called the cancer discovery a “huge
shock”. The news came as a fresh health blow to the British royal family: King
Charles is also undergoing treatment for cancer.
Kate’s
statement via a video message, which was filmed at Windsor Castle on Wednesday,
triggered an outpouring of support from well-wishers.
“The prince
and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here
in the UK, across the commonwealth and around the world in response to Her
Royal Highness’s message,” the Kensington Palace spokesperson said in a
statement on Saturday.
“They are
extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the
understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”
It is not
known how long Kate will be receiving treatment but it is understood she may be
keen to attend events as and when she feels able to, in line with medical
advice, although this will not indicate a return to full-time duties.
William
will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his
official duties, as he has done since her operation.
The prince
is due to return to public duties after his children return to school following
the Easter break. He and his wife will not attend the royal family’s
traditional Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel, which
the king is hoping to go to with the queen if his health allows.
It is not
likely to be a large family gathering or service, according to the Telegraph,
as Charles has paused public-facing royal duties.
The palace
said Catherine started her chemotherapy treatment in late February. It is
understood her public announcement of the news was timed to coincide with the
children breaking up from school for the Easter holidays.
The palace
said Catherine had wished to provide a medical update in order to put an end to
the speculation sparked by her admission to the London Clinic on 16 January for
major abdominal surgery. At the time, the palace refused to confirm what
Catherine was being treated for, but said the condition was non-cancerous.
The
speculation was only fuelled when the first official photograph of the Princess
of Wales to be released after her surgery was recalled by some of the world’s
biggest picture agencies earlier this month over claims it had been
manipulated.
With Reuters and Press Association
Analysis
Burden falls on Prince William to steer monarchy
through next few months
Harriet
Sherwood
With his father and wife diagnosed with cancer, and
himself estranged from his once beloved brother, the blows have come thick and
fast
Sat 23 Mar
2024 16.05 GMT
For the
Prince of Wales, the blows have come swiftly one after the other. First his
father, King Charles, revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and then
came the news from doctors that his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Wales,
also has cancer.
The stress
on the heir to the throne will be considerable. Not only must he support his
wife and father, he must also shepherd his young children through a family
medical crisis in the glare of global media coverage. And he must shoulder much
of the responsibility of steering the monarchy through challenging months
ahead.
In her
video statement released on Friday, Kate acknowledged her husband’s role in her
recovery from surgery and treatment for cancer. “Having William by my side is a
great source of comfort and reassurance,” she said.
Immediately
after Kate’s abdominal surgery in January, William took time off to support his
family. But on 6 February, he returned to royal duties as Kate recuperated at
home in Windsor.
Three weeks
later, he suddenly pulled out of attending a memorial service for his late
godfather, King Constantine of Greece, citing unspecified “personal reasons”.
That triggered frenzied speculation on social media. It is thought that Kate’s
diagnosis landed about this time.
King
Charles also missed the service, leaving Queen Camilla and Prince Andrew to
lead the royal party.
Now Kate is
undergoing chemotherapy, it is unlikely she will perform any official duties
for the foreseeable future. The king has resumed limited engagements in the
past month, such as an audience with Rishi Sunak and a privy council meeting,
but is not expected to travel or undertake arduous engagements.
William’s
priority over the next few weeks will be his family. The prince is able to take
as much time as he needs without financial worries or fear of losing his job.
Many spouses or partners in a similar position have to make hard choices.
“Balancing
working and caring” for someone with cancer “can be difficult”, says the
charity Macmillan Cancer Support. It advises trying to find a “balance between
the support you want to give and what you are able to do”, and talking to
employers about possible flexible working arrangements.
Many people
depend on the support – practical and emotional – of close relatives. Not for
the first time, William may be reflecting on the breakdown in the once close
relationship with his brother Harry, now living thousands of miles away and
largely estranged from his family.
While many
families pull together in a crisis, and strengthen mutual bonds, this seems
unlikely for the royals.
Analysis
Apologies for Kategate – but will the spirit of
restraint on social media last?
Vanessa
Thorpe Arts and media correspondent
The Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis has put a
stop to the internet’s wilder conspiracy theories, but it could be temporary
Sat 23 Mar
2024 19.02 GMT
After
Friday’s filmed statement from the Princess of Wales, it is now TikTok,
Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, who are in the dock. This weekend
thousands of individual users have expressed contrition over the conspiracy
theories they aired and the boss of X herself tried to reposition her platform
by urging compassion.
“A brave
message delivered by Princess Kate with her signature grace,” CEO of X, Linda
Yaccarino, posted, adding, “Her request for privacy, to protect her children
and allow her to move forward (without endless speculation) seems like a
reasonable request to respect.”
Speculation
about the whereabouts and wellbeing of Catherine, in the face of repeated
contradictions from Kensington Palace, took place chiefly on social media in
this country. While British newspapers showed restraint, phones lit up with
conspiracy theories – and foreign print and TV news journalists joined in.
“Kategate
became a cottage industry of clickbait online because it was a mystery, which
invites audience participation,” said writer Helen Lewis of the Atlantic. “One
of the rules of the internet is that people like to put themselves into the
narrative, and here, everyone got a chance to be the lead in their own version
of CSI.”
Rosie
Boycott, a crossbench peer and former editor of the Independent and the Daily
Express, sees it as “a very shabby episode”. “I hope people feel quite ashamed
because the internet hit a real low with poor Kate,” she said. “There may have
been a briefing for some British newspaper editors, telling them to take it
seriously, but we have zero control over social media – and then that viral
outbreak itself becomes the story.”
Forensic
analysis of the princess’s clothes was conducted online by amateur sleuths
arguing the edited royal Mother’s Day photograph was a total composite, while
others disbelieved the farm shop video of the couple that became public last
week. Although some of this spurious detective work was driven by misplaced
concern for Catherine, it also demonstrated a current distrust of “legacy”
media.
“It is the
wild west online, partly because of the anonymity,” said Boycott. “But Kategate
has been horrid and I don’t understand it, except that it reveals this strange
thing we have about feeling we own celebrities.”
Lewis
watched as the vacuum of real news spawned online content: “There was just
enough truth among all the speculation to make the conspiracy theories not
entirely absurd. By accident, Kensington Palace fed the fire rather than
quenched it,” she said.
“So you
could watch videos explaining how the photo of Kate and the children was
suspiciously edited – which it was. That legitimised the wilder stuff about
body doubles and AI generation. I even saw a 3D animated reconstruction of one
of the photos taken of Kate in the car.
“Some
people were doing all this with self-aware irony, but other people presented
themselves as trying to ‘save’ Kate, in a way that was reminiscent of the
stories around Britney Spears – and again, that’s someone who apparently was
sending coded messages about her conservatorship through her Instagram
captions. So the idea isn’t completely ridiculous.”
The new
tone of online sobriety might last a while, given the gravity and sensitivity
of the princess’s situation, even on digital forums that are built to
discourage moderate voices. But the appetite for status updates on her health
will not go away.
“What this
proves is that Kensington Palace can still control the British press to some
extent,” said Lewis. “But they can’t control the internet, or the American
media, who are hugely interested in our royal family but have very different
standards on privacy and libel.”
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