‘The Princess of Wales holds a mirror up to our flawed reality and her own frailty’

Since the Princess of Wales’s revelation that she is undergoing chemotherapy after her cancer diagnosis, many conspiracy theorists and high-profile figures who mocked her, have apologised for their behaviour. Here, Tessa Dunlop argues that if Kate can present herself with such poise after weeks of fevered speculation, the onus is now on the rest of us to think carefully about our role in what happens next...

Poised and graceful, The Princess of Wales described how her cancer diagnosis had come as a ‘huge shock’. (AFP or licensors)

In years to come historians will pore over the Princess of Wales’s modest, pitch-perfect video announcement that she has cancer, and hail it as an epoch-defining moment for the royal family.

In a carefully choreographed appearance, Kate sat poised and graceful amidst the spring daffodils and shared her story. She told us it had been an “incredibly tough couple of months”, and that her cancer diagnosis had come as a “huge shock”. The princess talked of being in the early stages of preventive chemotherapy treatment and reminded us of her “young family”, name-checking each of her children, as well as her “fantastic medical team” before signing off with a call out to all those with cancer,  “you are not alone” she assured them.

Even republicans carved from granite could not fail to be moved. I sat with my own young family and tears rolled down our cheeks. When all around her had apparently lost their minds, Kate, not generally known for landmark oratory, gave the speech of her life. Pale but composed, her remarkable two-minute video held a mirror to the nation. In a display of humanity and frailty, she served as a reminder that pain has no hierarchy, and yet here was Kate, when faced with extreme adversity, opting for strength over weakness. Yesterday evening, the Princess of Wales, from the dark place that is cancer, arrived at her own finest hour.

The Princess of Wales released a recorded message that revealed following her abdominal surgery in January ‘tests after the operation found cancer had been present’ (BBC Studios/PA)

In many ways, this feels more than we deserve. Amid inevitable feelings of empathy and sadness, Kate’s humble messaging also inadvertently tapped into our own flawed humanity, all too easily refracted through the royal prism. The rumour mill, as old as life itself, has found new and vicious ways of spreading malicious gossip.

The public sniffed something was up and wouldn’t let go. Who didn’t jump on the Kate conspiracy bandwagon? Social media pushed mainstream media into crazy levels of speculation, resulting in an unedifying witch hunt for a woman who was simply trying to hold it together for “George, Charlotte and Louis”.

Somehow, as a nation, we have got it wrong over the last couple of months. Even Kensington Palace was caught off guard, their cack-handed attempts to dampen the speculation with a doctored Mother’s Day photograph demonstrated the pressure the royal family were under. (Proof that they too have learnt their lesson, yesterday’s video message was filmed a couple of days earlier by BBC Studios.)

Like it or not, we live in a constitutional monarchy, but does that give us the right to indulge in a feeding frenzy of speculation? There is a distressing sense of deja vu about this story, reminiscent as it is of Diana’s tragic tale and our part in the voyeuristic consumption of her life. The outpouring of regret (Owen Jones, Blake Lively, on goes the list) merely serves to reinforce our collective guilt.

In many respects, Kate’s video poses as many questions as it does answers. In January, when the princess told us she had undergone abdominal surgery we ignored her “desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible” and instead met her health crisis with our very own postmodern version of a Victorian melodrama. The narrative quickly stopped being about Kate and reverted to a game of hide-and-seek. What chance did a sick princess have, hiding from the all-seeing eye of the world wide web?

The Princess of Wales name checked each of her children in her moving statement (Getty)

In the light of the stark facts now surrounding Kate’s health, all the usual guff cited at the breaking of a royal story turns to dust. Ideas of being “seen to be believed” or “letting light in up on the magic” feel today quaint and oddly out of place. We live in a world where the new frontier is an ungovernable internet, with our national consciousness a solitary brake upon its behaviour. So far we have failed to live up to the challenge.

Recovering from major surgery, facing down the prospect of preventative chemotherapy, did Kate really want to talk to the prying public on her Instagram account? Probably not, but the conspiracy circle demanded answers and, with her children buffered by the beginning of the Easter holidays, she decided to feed the frenzy another morsel of her health narrative to silence speculation. Or at least to redirect it.

This display of humanity was a reminder of why the royal story is so addictive, even for non-believers. And at the heart of it all, lies an ironic twist. Kate’s vulnerability, her sweet sad messaging, lifted her to the dizzy heights of a new national hero at the same time as it reduced so many of us to feeling like self-involved gossips. The princess’s video, reminiscent of young Elizabeth committing herself to a life of service at age 21, was exemplary. Here was Kate in her own hour of need, thanking us and reaching out beyond her own anxiety and pain to those around her who also have cancer.

The Kate captured in that video message was a reminder of monarchy at its best; an institution, or at least an individual within an institution, that we can look up to. Someone worthy of the titles and tiaras, and most crucially, someone who deserves the privacy she clearly craves. Over the next few months, the Princess of Wales’s job is to take care of herself. There will also need to be gentle updates on her progress to stem the social media madness, but most of the onus must surely lie with us, the public. We need to work out whether we’re capable of self-regulating our morbid curiosity about someone else’s health. Right now the crown depends on us to get that right.

Tessa Dunlop is the author of ‘Elizabeth and Philip, the Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy’, Headline Press, 2022