“Unprecedented”, “revolutionary”, “spectacular”: by announcing the end of her chemotherapy in a carefully designed video featuring her family, Princess Kate is breaking free from the traditional codes of royal communication in order to better redefine it.
“This is simply unprecedented!” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams enthuses to AFP, praising the video as “extraordinary, aimed at a young and connected audience.”
On Monday night, Kate Middleton, 42, announced the end of her cancer treatment, which she had made public last March. As with the announcement of her illness, the Princess of Wales opted for the video format.
However, the similarities between the two announcements end there.
In March, it was in front of the camera, alone on a bench, her features drawn, that she confided to the British and to the world that she had cancer, the stage and type of which she never specified.
In Monday’s video, it’s via a voice off fas she addresses the world. The public finds her smiling, strolling in the English countryside of Norfolk with her three children and her husband, Crown Prince William.
Made by a professional advertiser, the video went viral within hours, further demonstrating the princess’s popularity.
On X, it had accumulated more than seven million views on Tuesday evening, while on Instagram, the number of likes exceeded two million.
With its cinematic aesthetic, it offers a unique insight into the life of this family like no other.
More than an invitation to a picnic with the family of the heir to the throne, the video focuses on moments of tenderness shared by the couple. We see Kate and her husband exchange a kiss and embrace.
“In 40 years of covering the royal family, I have never seen anything like the video of Catherine (Kate’s official name),” Arthur Edwards, a photographer for the tabloid, wrote in the Sun.
“Controlling the relationship with the media”
For Richard Fitzwilliams, the video is also a way to cut short the conjecture about the state of health of the princess. In March, she had to apologize after the publication of a photoshopped photo. The wildest speculations about her state of health were then rife.
Visiting Wales on Tuesday, Prince William warned that his wife had “a long way to go” before she could return to the limelight.
By communicating in this way, the princely couple intends to “totally control their relations with the media”, analyses Rob Jobson, author of a biography of Princess Kate, to AFP.
In substance, the message of the Princess of Wales also appears innovative. As when she says that the illness has brought her face to face with her “own vulnerabilities”.
“This time has mostly reminded William and me to reflect and be grateful for the simple but important things in life that many of us often take for granted. To simply love and be loved,” she says in the video.
Shani Orgad, a professor at the London School of Economics, said the princess’s communication remained “vague.” She talked about her vulnerabilities but didn’t dwell on them.
Furthermore, the teacher analyses to AFP, the “fairy tale setting with this idyllic English countryside has little or nothing to do with the way cancer patients talk about their illness.”
The fact remains that in the world of royal communication, the princess’s video stands out. “It’s probably not something Prince Charles could have done because he wasn’t raised like that,” Richard Fitzwilliams points out.
Is this set to last? “Hard to say,” admits the commentator. “We can say that this communication was made specifically for the princess’s cancer and that they will return to more traditional canons. The future will tell us.”