The Princess of Wales’s openness is a public service to the nation

Editorial: Even the stoutest republican will acknowledge that if we are to be a constitutional monarchy, the royal family can use its role to do good – with her courageous announcement, Kate Middleton has done exactly that

The Princess’s story is a reminder that cancer can strike anyone (PA Images)

Now we understand why there seemed to be a gap between what the Prince and Princess of Wales were saying and the evidence that something was not right about the state of the royal household.

As Catherine said in her video statement on Friday, “It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”

She and her husband are quite right to put their children first, and many of the public figures who amplified conspiracy theories about the royal family were quite wrong to do so – and some of them have even been honest enough to say so and to apologise.

The most effective rebuke to such tasteless speculation was the princess’s dignified statement. She did not need to make it in the form of a video, but we salute her courage in doing so. The British people would have respected her and her family’s privacy if she had simply made a written announcement, but given the level of worldwide interest in her supposed disappearance from the public eye, it was better that she felt strong enough to make a direct and personal address to the nation and to the world.

This matters because openness matters. By speaking out in this way she has made it a little easier for everyone to talk about health concerns, which is the important first step to getting warning signs checked at the earliest possible stage.

At the most basic level, the princess’s story is a reminder that cancer can strike anyone, including a healthy-seeming 42-year-old, and that it is no respecter of social station or family responsibilities.

One important part of her statement was addressed to “all those whose lives have been affected by cancer”. She said, in words that will provide comfort to millions: “You are not alone.”

Even the stoutest republican will acknowledge that if we are to be a constitutional monarchy, the royal family can use its role to do good. Even if the prurient interest in the private lives of the royals is compared to a soap opera, it can be accepted that TV dramas can use their hold on the popular imagination to educate, to raise awareness and to encourage shifts in public attitudes for the benefit of all.

Public attitudes towards cancer, for example, have changed dramatically in recent decades. The taboos around the subject have diminished and lives have been saved as a result. Which is one reason why we should be grateful to Catherine for her openness. The Prince and Princess of Wales may not like some of the costs of celebrity that come with their role, but they bear the responsibilities well.

The King, too, has done his bit for raising awareness. He went public about having his enlarged prostate checked, which should encourage many men to do the same. He has been open about his diagnosis: he does not have prostate cancer, but cancer has been found and he, like the Princess of Wales, is being treated for it.

It was not so long ago that the presumption would have been to withhold such information about the health of the monarch. When George VI, the late Queen’s father, underwent lung surgery in 1949, “the Queen never allowed you to contemplate the fact of the King’s illness”, according to one courtier. “The result was a collective self-deceit at Court,” according to Ben Pimlott, biographer of Elizabeth II.

In this respect, the monarchy has modernised itself – and a good thing, too. Charles and Catherine have both helped to demystify cancer, and their joint openness has been a public service.