Why the Princess of Wales’s public role may never be the same again

Over the course of three minutes, the Wales family are barely apart. Holding hands, they walk side by side, sometimes with arms around one another, through a wheat field, a wood, and across a beach.

Princess Charlotte, nine, is glued to her mother’s side; Prince Louis leans comfortably into his father in an easy embrace unthinkable in publicly-released images of royal generations past.

In one precious second, the Princess of Wales clasps the head of her eldest son, suddenly tall, to her chest and kisses it, her spare hand drawing him in closer and closer.

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This is a video for the ages. The intimacy captured in the film, and its cinematic style, makes it unlike anything the public has ever seen before. Yet there is also a familiarity: it brings to life some of the warm family photographs previously released by the Waleses and also harks back to archive footage of the late Queen and Philip with their young family.

The film, one suspects, will become a treasured family memento to be watched fondly together in years and decades to come.

The Princess of Wales, reading aloud her own words directly to the world, speaks candidly about the “complex, scary and unpredictable” life of being on a “cancer journey”, bringing her “face to face” with her own vulnerabilities.

“With that,” she says, comes a “new perspective on everything.”

Above all, the world heard, the Princess’ months of chemotherapy have left her “grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted.

“Of simply loving and being loved. Doing what I can to stay cancer-free is now my focus.”

This was not a video filmed by committee, workshopped by Kensington Palace aides and edited with the help of focus groups.

It was, sources said, a “creative outlet” for the Princess, who has chosen to take control of her own message in a public life which has seen her cede so much.

“This is her,” says a friend.

The Princess is now, they say, working out what is right for her future, and that of her family.

“This is a personal message from her,” says one source, who notes approvingly that her voice has grown in confidence since first setting out to speak directly to the public, when she revealed details of her illness in a video message released in March.

This was a video intended, in part, to answer questions being asked by the public and media, among them: How is the Princess’s health? How are her children coping? When will she be seen again in public?

Answers to some of those questions come through loud and clear. The Princess confirmed she has finished chemotherapy, she is well enough – sometimes – to fully embrace family life, and her children are being looked after in every possible sense.

Other questions, seasoned royal observers point out, remain - in particular, the role the Princess envisages playing in public life in the future.

“My path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes,” the Princess says.

“I am however looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.”

What that will look like is uncertain. Save for two key appearances – Remembrance Sunday and her annual carol concert at Westminster Abbey, which will take place unless her health changes – the rest of her diary over the coming months is unconfirmed for obvious reasons, to allow for cancellations without causing alarm.

The Princess’s work, including her many public appearances and a flagship project focused on improving the lives of young children, is the constant that has run through her public life, says one palace source, who describes the Wales’ approach to Royal life as an “unwavering commitment to duty and service”.

“She’s said on many occasions that her work does bring her great joy,” adds one who knows the couple.

“Whether it will be work in the same way now as it was in 2023, time will tell. For now, it’s going to have to be different.”

“Perhaps there will be a new approach and a different balance,” says a second source. “But the important thing is, she’ll be back.”

“The public understands the position she’s in, I think they get it,” says another. “People want her to balance and not rush back.”

The cancer journey is “complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone,” the Princess said in her message.

It is also, in many cases, a waiting game in which the end of treatment heralds the start of more uncertainty and worry.

Multiple charities offer specific help for the period of life after a patient’s treatment has ended, from support groups to “cancer coaches”.

One, Life after Cancer, says 92 per cent of its users admit to finding life after cancer harder than cancer treatment. Its support system is designed to alleviate the “risk of serious mental distress” after treatment and help people “build a positive life after their cancer experience”.

If the Princess cannot join a support group with such a high public profile, she appears to have absorbed their messages.

“When your treatment ends, you may feel relieved,” Macmillan tells cancer patients in its printed advice. “But you may still have side-effects from treatment and other emotions to cope with. You will need time to find out what is now normal for you. It can take time to adjust.

“You may also be thinking about positive changes you want to make. These might include focusing on your well-being or planning some things to look forward to.”

In the case of the Prince and Princess of Wales, one source says: “As she says herself, this has changed their perspective on everything.”

If the public, including those who have followed the monarchy for decades, were taken aback by the intimacy of the Wales family video, those who have spent time with them recently are not.

“I think this personal approach is something you will see going forward,” says a source.

The video, shot by film-maker Will Warr, shows more of the Waleses than anyone is accustomed to: affectionate, at home, private interactions such as the Prince laughing as he picks a caterpillar out of Charlotte’s hair.

In some ways, the video shows the Princess putting her own advice into action.

“When I was growing up I was very lucky,” she said in 2017, at the start of her work on improving early years childhood in Britain. “My family was the most important thing to me. My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realise how central values like these have been to me throughout my life.”

The Middletons make a rare appearance in the video, an acknowledgement that their constant support, always appreciated, has become invaluable this year.

Carole and Michael are filmed playing a lively game of cards with their grandchildren, who show every sign of having the same settled, stable, much-loved life the young Kate enjoyed.

The Princess’ belief in the healing powers of being in nature is also well documented, illustrated at length here with wheat fields, hay bales, sand dunes, sea and trees all around.

Scenes of the children running and laughing on the beach come more than half a century after footage of the schoolboy Prince Charles and his younger sister Anne in 1957 on Holkham Beach, Norfolk, with the Queen and Prince Philip.

There is no change in policy on the Wales children’s privacy, a palace source emphasised. The Prince and Princess, like any parents, will continue to decide how much they are willing to share with the public – albeit on a worldwide scale.

If Catherine has often seen her role in Royal life as supporting – supporting her husband who will one day be King, the eldest son who will follow in his footsteps, and the two younger siblings who must find their way in public life – then this year has been the time she has needed and accepted help of her own.

Prince William, who has this year come to terms with cancer diagnoses for his father and his wife, wants nothing more than to protect her, friends say, and give her peace as she recovers.

“Like any husband, he wants to support his wife,” says a source. “And at this stage, a big part of that is supporting her to do the things that bring her joy while she is on this journey.”

The Prince, it is said, has always been conscious of how much has been asked of his wife, who was born into relatively ordinary circumstances and has now spent 13 years in the spotlight of a future Queen.

He would rather shoulder criticism than see his family’s privacy breached. When he missed the memorial for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, for a “personal matter” in February, he preferred to weather a baffled and critical press than allow his office to hint at any health problems being experienced by the Princess behind the scenes.

When in April, a charity volunteer at a food distribution engagement asked the Prince to look after his wife, he placed a hand on the volunteer’s shoulder and promised: “I will.”

As aides have pointed out repeatedly over the years, the Princess’s work will be measured in decades – a lifelong dedication to duty unlike any other career. Now, this logic acts as a reminder that she must be allowed to heal fully – physically and emotionally – before she considers a wholesale return.

William, newly returned to work after the summer, will continue to follow his usual schedule: three or four official engagements a week, with further work behind the scenes in Windsor on his key causes, while the couple’s children are at school.

“The Prince is going to continue to balance supporting his wife and his children through an incredibly tough time and his important work,” says a palace source.

The Princess may make a sporadic appearance in the Court Circular between now and Christmas, and continues to be briefed on her early years project championing support for children aged under five.

There is no sign she intends to speak further about the specifics of her illness in the near future, her medical privacy still an uncrossable red line.

“I do hope that I am able to represent you all once again very soon,” is all she could tell the Irish Guards, of which she is honorary colonel, in a letter in June apologising for missing a parade rehearsal. That intention, sources say, is unchanged.

For now, sources can only say that the Princess will have a “light programme” going forward with a “handful” of engagements before the end of the year.

What comes next in her public life, a source says, only “time will tell”.

“I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty,” the Princess said in June.

“I enter this new phase of recovery with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life,” she says now.

Two minutes into the video, the six-year-old Prince Louis is seen scaling a tree 15ft above the ground.

His mother watches him from below, calm and encouraging. If she is inwardly nervous, her children will never know.