Kate Middleton’s enormous dignity

A message from Catherine, The Princess of Wales pic.twitter.com/5LQT1qGarK

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We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.

Any suggestion that she must be forced to go back to work immediately after Easter has now gone into abeyance.

It is also true that, as with Charles, her revelation of her diagnosis will come as a consolation to those who are also living with cancer: “For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form,” she said, “please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”

Everyone with a compassionate bone in their body will feel a huge sense of sympathy and empathy with Kate and her family as she goes through this experience. Yet it is also the case that we have seen, clearly, over the past few months that a woman widely regarded as the popular and sympathetic face of the royal family — the one of “us” who became one of “them” but never lost her awareness of where she came from and who she was — can be turned on, viciously, for refusing to provide a moment by moment briefing on her health. And now we know the truth, and why she didn’t want to.

This calm, dignified and immensely sad statement should be the last word on the matter, and we can only hope that she recovers her health, for her family’s sake, rather than Britain’s.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.