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It may only be halfway through January, but the two opposed branches of the younger royal family have both made their first significant public statements of the year. Meghan and Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex came forward with a typically tone-deaf and self-aggrandizing attack on Meta, which ended with a plug for the Archewell Foundation and reminded us all, after a relatively quiet 2024, how irritating their presence in public life continues to be. And then the Princess of Wales, who quietly and stoically spent much of the past year undergoing cancer treatment, visited a hospital and, matter-of-factly, announced that her illness is in remission.
Kate’s visit to the Royal Marsden was inevitably an emotional affair
Princess Catherine, or Kate as everyone would rather refer to her, has been the royal family’s greatest asset in what has been a difficult and stressful period. She has overcome accusations of being a Stepford Wife, smiling and waving on command, and although there have been the usual unpleasant murmurings that her illness was a fabrication to conceal some nefarious plot, most right-minded people would find her actions considerably more admirable than those of the other members of the family she has married into — not least her brother-in-law and his wife.
Her visit yesterday to the Royal Marsden, where she underwent treatment for cancer, was inevitably an emotional affair. As someone whose father-in-law spent time in the Marsden, I can vouch for the kindness and professionalism of the staff there. When the princess issued the statement that “the care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional,” she was speaking for many who have been through the hospital’s doors at the most anxiety-inducing period in their life. Some patients will have been fortunate, others less so. Yet Catherine’s announcement that “it is a relief to now to be in remission and I remain focused on recovery” was tempered by the acknowledgement that “as anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal.”
Quite what this “new normal” will be remains to be seen. Catherine has stated that she is looking forward to a “fulfilling year ahead,” but her royal duties will be scaled back to a level that she can manage without any difficulty. There are unlikely to be any lengthy overseas tours, while set-piece occasions, such as yesterday’s visit to the Marsden, will be planned sparingly. While King Charles’s illness has not stopped him pursuing a vigorous schedule, his daughter-in-law will be understandably advised to take it rather easier for the foreseeable future.
Yesterday, the princess showed her natural rapport with the cancer sufferers that she chatted to. It was her first official solo engagement in nearly a year, and she spoke with a surprising degree of candor about the mechanics of her treatment, referring to the medicine port that was placed on her arm and chest to deliver the drugs she needed. She also revealed how “I really felt like I needed to get the sun…you need loads of water and loads of sunlight.” The necessities of being a high-profile patient meant that her treatment took place “privately and quietly,” but as she remarked to one of the other patients, “there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
This is what those around Kate — not least her husband and children — will be hoping is the case. As anyone who has lived with cancer knows, “remission” is not the same thing as “cured,” and her condition will be carefully monitored for a long time to come. No doubt her detractors and internet trolls will keep up their usual chorus of abuse and disbelief, too. Yet her quiet bravery and natural compassion should be a lesson not just to them, but to the showboating duo in Montecito who, for all their angry, self-righteous noise, could do with understanding what real courage and commitment looks like, and learn from it.
