King Charles’ resumption of public duties will help the Princess of Wales continue her cancer recovery away from the spotlight. Photos / Getty Images, AP
King Charles’ resumption of public duties will help the Princess of Wales continue her cancer recovery away from the spotlight. Photos / Getty Images, AP
News of a palace announcement has not, in recent times, often been a cause for celebration.
This year, in fact, it has revealed worse and worse news: first that King Charles III and Princess of Wales were ill, then his cancer, then hers.
It will also have one additional happy side effect: taking some of the pressure off the Princess of Wales as she navigates her own recovery.
With the King back in action, the glaring gaps in the royal family line-up that have been all too apparent in recent months will be filled with a monarch thrilled to be back in his usual place.
Where once the spotlight was to be endured, now it will be enjoyed with the fresh perspective of a man who has appreciated the public goodwill even more in his enforced absence.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, announced last month she is undergoing chemotherapy and will return to official duties only when she is cleared by doctors. Photo / Kensington Palace
For the Princess, whose own absence caused such extraordinary public speculation earlier this year, there are hopes that the bolstered ranks of senior royals will buy her more of the peace and quiet she needs.
While Buckingham Palace has issued a tentative road map for the King’s return to public duties, there are no such plans at Kensington Palace.
The Princess’ candid video, in which she shared the news she was having preventative chemotherapy and spoke movingly about her children, was issued only a month ago.
Since then, she has been at home with her young family as they try to keep their lives as stable as they can.
In a sign the family are managing to maintain some normality, a photograph of Prince Louis, taken by his mother, to mark his 6th birthday, was released this week.
In keeping with the family’s plea for privacy, there have been no hints as to when or how the Princess will make a return to the high-profile public duties she has so excelled at since joining the royal family.
King Charles III's treatment for cancer is going well enough for him to return to public duties. Photo /Getty Images
Now, with the return of the King, the Trooping the Colour balcony will feel a lot fuller; the opening of the Buckingham Palace garden party more regal.
In other words, there will be a semblance of “business as usual”, and a joyful distraction in watching the 75-year-old monarch back at his hand-shaking, small-talking best.
That his headline-grabbing presence could act as a shield for questions about the Princess’ health and return would be a happy by-product for a father-in-law who has shared such an unexpected and unusual health journey with the woman the newspapers like to call the “daughter he never had”.
The King “remained in the closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law throughout the past weeks”, it was said at the time of her cancer announcement, with a promise that he and the Queen, “will continue to offer their love and support to the whole family through this difficult time”.
The commentary around the two senior royals, whose paths have been so eerily similar so far, reached fever pitch in mid-March.
Then, conspiracy theories and rumours flew around the globe on social media under the hashtag #whereiskate.
Discussions that ordinarily happened in the darker corners of royal online fandom spread into the mainstream, with ordinary people sharing jokes and memes about the Princess’ whereabouts.
Even US chat shows and celebrities got in on the action, with unwise comments some have since had the grace to acknowledge as regrettable – if not quite fully apologise for.
Prince William and the Princess of Wales seen in public together for the first time after her abdominal surgery, in an image published by The Sun, as speculation swirled about her health.
Frenzied speculation
Since the Princess authorised the release of her personal video message on March 22, the public and elements of the press have examined their consciences and the frenzied speculation has dissolved.
The Princess, as she wishes, has been left to the care of her doctors and loved ones in peace.
But as the northern hemisphere summer season approaches, so too do the events at which she would ordinarily be a fixture: Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, Trooping the Colour and at least one palace garden party. Her absence will still be keenly felt.
The palace has said she will return to official duties only when she is cleared by doctors, and that advice still stands. She “may be keen to attend events as and when she feels able to”, her spokesman has said, but “any initial public events will not necessarily signal a return to a regular public schedule”.
