LONDON — Public displays of affection on a royal video? My, how times have changed!
When the Princess of Wales announced in a soft-focus, Insta-ready video that she had completed chemotherapy treatment, she ventured into realms not previously inhabited by the British royal family, traditionally known for the stiff upper lip: “never complain , never ‘explain’ ethos of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Here was the most popular royal, a public figure usually referred to simply as Kate, using the tools of social media to share the fact that her life, despite all her wealth and privilege, had been disrupted by cancer, like millions of others people.
But it wasn’t just what she said, it was how she said it. Unlike previous updates about Kate’s health, which sounded like factual news reports, this one had a very different tone. The slickly produced mini-film released Monday showed the princess embracing Prince William and their three young children and sharing intimate moments at home with her parents.
There is even a chaste kiss on her cheek.
“It’s a real breakthrough,” says George Gross, royal historian at King’s College London. “But I think people will look at it and not necessarily realize that. I think they will think: this is just right, this is normal. That’s what a family does.”
Kate’s video marks the royal family’s latest experiment with more openness since King Charles III took the throne in 2022. That was tested repeatedly this year when both Charles and Kate were treated for serious health problems and later announced they were undergoing cancer treatment.
For centuries, the British royal family has withheld news of illness for fear it would weaken their authority. That reluctance and secrecy continued even after they became constitutional figureheads.
The British public was not told that King George VI, Charles’s grandfather, had lung cancer before his death at the age of 56 in February 1952. The public death announcement only stated that the king had ‘died peacefully in his sleep’.
King George V died in 1936 from heart and lung disease. Rather than being open about the king’s health, palace officials manipulated the timing of his death to gain more favorable coverage. Diary extracts published fifty years later revealed that the king’s doctor injected the terminally ill monarch with morphine and cocaine to hasten his death – partly so it could be announced in the morning papers ‘rather than in the less convenient evening papers’.
Charles has made a point of being more open than his mother, Elizabeth, who Buckingham Palace described as suffering from “mobility problems” in the months before her death.
In January, the palace said Charles would go to a hospital in London for treatment for an enlarged prostate. A few weeks later, the king said he would step back from his public duties while he was treated for an undisclosed form of cancer. However, these announcements were made in factual publications issued by the palace press service.
But Kate and William, both 42, belong to a new generation that is more comfortable sharing personal problems on social media.
Kate’s video was shot by William Warr, creative director of Detail Films, who says it combines film production techniques and strategic marketing to create ‘beautiful brand films’.
“We exist to help brands tell stories that resonate with their audiences,” the company says on its website.
In the video, Kate described how difficult the past nine months had been for her family and expressed “relief” at completing her course of treatment.
“Life as you know it can change in an instant, and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and unknown roads,” she said in the video, which was recorded in a forest near the family’s summer home in Norfolk. .
Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis consultant, described the film as “a tectonic shift in the way the royal family controls its image.”
“Kate’s journey is deep and deeply personal, but they have learned that emotions can be controlled – and weaponized – in small, powerful doses,” he said. “By doing this through a polished film, they maintain their dignity and control, while still being relatable.”
The fact that the royal family needed new techniques to control its narrative in the age of TikTok and Instagram was underscored after palace officials announced in January that Kate would be hospitalized for abdominal surgery. While the palace released few details about her condition, social media sites were filled with speculation about what was really going on as Kate withdrew from public view to focus on her recovery.
When the princess announced she had cancer two months later, she addressed the public directly in a somber video asking for “time, space and privacy” while she underwent treatment.
In June, Kate released a video update, saying she had good days and bad days.
While the princess stepped back from most public duties during her treatment, Kate has made two appearances this year. First at the King’s birthday parade in June, known as Trooping the Colour, and most recently at the men’s final at Wimbledon in July, where she received a standing ovation.
Now that she has completed chemotherapy, Kate plans to slowly return to public duties and “undertake a few more public appearances” in the coming months.
But Kate said in her video that the road to full recovery would be long and that she would “take each day as it comes.”
“William and I are so grateful for the support we have received and have drawn great strength from everyone who is helping us at this time,” she said. “The kindness, empathy and compassion of everyone is truly humbling.”
The video should be seen as part of the king’s efforts to increase the royal family’s openness as he tries to build support for the monarchy, Gross said.
‘It’s an operation. It’s the whole company together,” he said. “And I think it really fits with the feeling of being as open as we can while maintaining that natural sense of privacy that you need with these things.”
