LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince William, are said to be “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support following her shocking cancer announcement as tributes continued to pour in Sunday from around the world.
After weeks of frenzied speculation on social media about her health and well-being, Kate said in a candid video message on Friday that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. The 42-year-old princess said the cancer discovery was a “huge shock” and she was now in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy.
“The prince and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the U.K., across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message,” a spokesperson for Kensington Palace said. “They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”
There has been a global outpouring of support, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, and King Charles III who is also undergoing treatment for cancer. Neither Kate nor the king have revealed what type of cancer they have or the stage at which it was being treated.
People have flocked to the royal’s main London residence, Kensington Palace, as well as to Windsor Castle, where they spend most of their time, to show support for the princess, with many leaving flowers.
Until Friday, officials had only said Kate’s surgery in January was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April. This has sparked a flurry of rumor-mongering about the “missing” future queen, compounded after Kate acknowledged that she altered an official photo released to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. earlier this month.
The photo, meant to reassure the public, triggered a backlash after The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted it over manipulation concerns.
Even a video published last week by The Sun and TMZ that appeared to show Kate and William shopping near their home did not dispel the negative coverage.
Criticism of those jumping to sometime-outlandish conclusions continued to be voiced over the weekend.
Paddy Harverson, previously the official spokesman of Kate and the Prince of Wales, said the speculation and pressure around Kate’s health and whereabouts before her video statement was “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
However, he said he thought Kate would have revealed her cancer diagnosis exactly as she had, regardless of what was being speculated.
“I’m absolutely convinced that if we hadn’t had all the madness and social media, if we hadn’t had the sort of the Mother’s Day photo mistake, they would have still done it like this,” he told the BBC. “They would have still waited till this last Friday when the schools are breaking up to make the announcement.”
The Double Cancer Blow to Kate and King Charles Leaves Britain’s Royal Family Depleted and Strained
The Princess of Wales’ disclosure that she has cancer and will take time off to recover leaves the ranks of working royals depleted and strains a monarchy that King Charles III has sought to slim down.
Kate’s announcement on Friday prompted an outpouring of goodwill toward her and for a royal family that’s now facing two serious health crises. Some of the social media frenzy that has swirled in the princess’ absence from public view may now seep away.
But with the king also being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, and Prince William helping to care for Kate and their children over the Easter school break, the ranks of working royals have been thinned, making the monarchy’s future suddenly look fragile.
“This is a smaller and frailer royal family than Britain is used to,” veteran journalist Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesman magazine. “It scarcely seems believable that only a decade ago, people were complaining about there being far too many members of it.”
Prince Harry is in California, estranged from his brother. Prince Andrew is in disgrace over his friendship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and faced allegations of sexual abuse. So it falls to Queen Camilla and a few others to be the public face of a monarchy that now has increased public sympathy but reduced visibility.
“It’s a remarkable situation and a significant moment for the monarchy and the institution so early in the king’s reign that two senior figures should be out of action,” said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. “The pressure is on a much smaller team.”
Partly in response to gripes that taxpayers were funding a small army of royals, Charles resolved to run a tighter ship when he took the throne in 2022, with a core group of senior family members carrying out most of the work.
The nature of that work may not be apparent, especially to people outside the U.K., but it is plentiful. The monarch has no political power but plays a constitutional role that includes signing bills into law and meeting regularly with government ministers.
The king and his children are patrons of many charities, professional bodies and sporting organizations, as well as ceremonial colonels-in-chief of military regiments and dispensers of medals for valor and public achievements.
The most visible royal is now 76-year-old Camilla, who has kept working while her husband is treated for cancer. In recent days she has stood in for Charles on visits to the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.
The king’s sister, 73-year-old Princess Anne, has attended award ceremonies, receptions and visits as patron of organizations including Save the Children. Prince Edward, at 60 the king’s youngest brother, has been in Uganda on royal duties that stretch across the 56-nation Commonwealth of Britain’s former colonies.
The engagements help fulfill the maxim of the late Queen Elizabeth II that the royal family must be “seen to be believed.”
“This is a historic monarchy that thrives on interacting with people,” royal historian Robert Hardman told Sky News. “It has to be visible.”
But striking a balance between visibility and privacy has always been tricky. During the late queen’s 70-year reign, the British media evolved from showing deference toward the royals to having a hunger for scoops that saw some tabloids resort to phone hacking and other illegal activity in search of stories.
Press behavior changed to an extent after the death of Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash while being pursued by photographers. That curbed the use of paparazzi photos, but the relationship between the monarchy and the media remains uneasy. It’s openly hostile in the case of Prince Harry, who is suing several newspaper publishers for invasion of privacy.
Claudia Joseph, author of “Kate: The Making of a Princess,” said the Prince and Princess of Wales are social media-savvy, but that dealing with the online world is “a learning curve.”
Joseph said the royal family is still dealing with the “big shock” of Harry and Meghan’s departure. Their retreat from royal duties in 2020 — spurred, they said, by relentless press intrusion and a lack of support from the palace — “depleted the younger ranks.”
Despite that, she said public sympathy and the royals’ sense of duty would see the monarchy through its latest crisis.
“Families do get ill, and they do struggle, and sometimes people have to take a step back from work,” she said. “I’m sure in six months’ time when they have recovered, hopefully, people will forget that they weren’t around for a few months.”
In her video message, Kate said that her 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,” she said.
____
Related coverage:
