Only a couple of years ago, despite Brexit and Covid, one British institution seemed steady, secure and unchanging: the monarchy. Now people here are not quite so sure. Both King Charles III, crowned less than a year ago, and his daughter-in-law Princess Catherine, married to Prince William the heir to the throne, have been diagnosed with cancer. Their diagnoses of cancer are serious. Probably only their closest families and the doctors, not even the prime minister, know how serious. And that is worrying.
The Royals won sympathy in January when the king had to give up public appearances after the discovery of his prostate cancer and at the same time Catherine was forced into seclusion following abdominal surgery. The media gave credit for the palace's partial openness in admitting the illnesses, but spokesmen refused to answer in detail what was wrong with the princess. Into the void came social media speculation, magnified a couple of weeks ago when photo agencies withdrew a photograph taken by William of his wife and their three young children because it had been slightly altered.
That alone caused speculation to go wild across the world: How ill was the princess? Had she split from her husband? Were they divorcing? The Internet swirled with increasingly heartless and groundless rumors and the Princess, looking strained and pale, felt forced to issue a short video from the garden of Windsor Castle on Friday night admitting for the first time that she was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
Unknown prognoses
Both she and the king are likely to be hors de combat, recovering from their treatment for several months. We don't know what the prognosis is in either case, or what Catherine, who is only 42, is actually suffering from – quite rightly, say sympathizers: Give her and the family time and space. The video has not quite silenced the social media trolls either though some seem temporarily abashed.
Unfortunately, the modern world does not allow for privacy. Once upon a time the monarchy made no concessions to publicity. When George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, was found to have lung cancer in 1951 (the result of a lifetime's smoking) his left lung was removed in a secret operation at Buckingham Palace and no one knew. When he suddenly died six months later the public was accordingly shocked by the unexpected news.
After decades of grumbling about the number of members of the royal family in receipt of public funds for occasional duties, King Charles has regularly spoken of a slimmed-down monarchy with fewer members carrying out more engagements. Be careful what you wish for. He has his wish – and it could not have come at a worse time as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have foresworn royal duties and moved to California, slamming the door on the way out with rancorous (unproven) claims of bad treatment in a series of interviews and Harry's book Spare, published last year. The breakdown with his brother seems irrevocable after all the bad blood. And Prince Andrew, the king's younger brother, has been cast into outer darkness, no longer considered for public duties following his scandalous association with the American pedophile millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
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