The Princess of Wales’s diagnosis makes me fear for the health of the monarchy

With the King and his daughter-in-law being treated for cancer, there’s a real risk that more royals will take a leaf out of Prince Harry’s book and opt out of frontline duties, writes Alan Rusbridger. So what is the plan to keep The Firm going?

The King and the Princess of Wales are stepping back from public engagements to undergo treatment (PA Wire)

Forget the conspiracy theories that have been raging around the world. In one short, dignified video, the Princess of Wales revealed just why she has taken time out from the public gaze. She spoke movingly and with decorum. Here ends the gossip.

It’s barely six weeks since we learned that the King, too, has cancer. Both are receiving treatment. Both speak with a degree of courage and optimism about their hopes for a full recovery. We all hope and pray that they make one. But Kate’s announcement heightens the increasing sense of fragility about the institution of which she has become such an iconic member. Take two key members of the family out of action (four, if you include reduced participation from their partners, who are looking after them) and the whole operation begins to teeter a bit.

I’ve been quietly wondering about this for some time, but – even before Kate’s announcement – was jolted by the Daily Mail surrendering half of its front page recently to a doom-laden warning: “If the royal family is not quite at the 11th hour, it is perilously close.”