Watch: The Princess of Wales reinvents herself through BTS footage | Royal Insight
There’s absolutely no question that the touching family video that was released to the world on Sept 9 to announce the end of Princess of Wales’s cancer treatment has shifted the axis.
Not only did it mark a shift in how the Waleses communicate directly to the public, and how much of their lives they are willing to share with us, but it also marked a more profound shift.
In her own words, the Princess says that her perspective on everything has changed – that the simple things in life we often take for granted, like loving and being loved – have come to the fore for her.
The unprecedentedly intimate three-minute video of the royals directly illustrated this – it was a testament to her love of her three children, her husband, her parents and nature. It was also a testament to the support they have all shown her through the challenges of the last nine months.
Kensington Palace has made no secret of the couple’s wish to connect with younger people, particularly the chronically online Gen Z.
Since launching the couple’s official YouTube channel in 2021, the Palace has been churning out slick and professional videos of them with increasing frequency.
The most recent video of Catherine, in which she voiced an emotional monologue over clips of her family from the summer, was used to announce an end to her chemotherapy.
However, it was also used to somewhat manage expectations of what her working life might look like for the foreseeable future.
But the format hasn’t always worked as well for the royals.
Famously, the Duke of York’s interview with Emily Maitlis for Newsnight in 2019 saw disastrous ramifications for him and severely dented the Royal family’s reputation.
It has now been dramatised in not one but two major TV productions – the second of which has just been released by Amazon Prime, titled A Very Royal Scandal, following the success of Scoop by Netflix.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s explosive sit-down with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 also drew no favours for the couple, whose rift with the Royals increased dramatically as a result.
Of course, the traditional formats of these broadcast interviews are a stark contrast to the in-house production of the Kensington Palace videos – but that’s just the point.
The Palace has seen how delivering the news personally – with no middle man – means they can shape the narrative themselves, and effectively at that.
In many ways, their new strategy could be reshaping the monarchy’s image for future generations.
By communicating using this highly personal medium, the Waleses may be ensuring the relevance of an institution that has been criticised by young people for its lack of modernity, transparency and reluctance to change.
The latest video welcomed us into their beloved Anmer Hall home and gave us a never-seen-before insight into their non-working lives – might this candidness be the key to retaining the couple’s status as the most popular royals?
