Adds a second palace insider: “The royal family has always shown a propensity for learning from past experience and adjusting. It’s one of the great chameleon organizations of the world in that sense, and I think therefore there will be someone saying, ‘Let’s reassess this slimmed-down monarchy.’ ”
Rumors in the press that Harry, who recently returned to the UK for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, is keen to assist his father with royal duties overseas are wide of the mark. Harry and Meghan’s trip to Nigeria, while not an official royal tour, appeared to have all the trademarks of one and generated mostly positive press for the couple. During Harry’s three-day trip to the UK in May, there was no meeting with his father. Harry was said to be deeply disappointed that Charles prioritized official engagements, including a palace garden party, over him. “While there has been a thawing of relations between father and son, there are still trust issues,” confides a family friend. “Charles was very hurt by some of the things Harry said about Camilla in his book. As for relations between Harry and William, there is a complete breakdown of trust.”
With Harry and Meghan out of the royal lineup, there is a pressing need for more hands on deck. The king and queen were expected to travel to Australia later this year. However, it is still uncertain as to whether Charles, who returned to public engagements at the end of April, will be fit enough to travel globally.
“When you get down to this few active operators, places are not getting visited. Those hands are not being shaken,” observes Jephson. “Nobody’s getting the nice sunny smile, and that has always been a critical part of the monarchy’s charm. It’s where the bedrock of its loyalty is built both in the UK and overseas.”
Sending William and Kate and their children overseas would, ordinarily, be a way to shore up support further afield, but with a question mark over when Kate will return to work, all plans are currently on hold.
When the princess did make an appearance to tell the world about her diagnosis—after a frenzy of speculation, cruel rumors on social media, and an alleged attempt by three staff members at the London Clinic to hack into her private medical records—she was frail, but she maintained she was doing well. She had waited until the children were off school for the Easter holidays before her televised announcement, to protect them from the media interest. In her familiar clip, she said she was shocked to have been diagnosed with cancer and revealed she was undergoing chemotherapy. When she spoke about her children, her voice wobbled. She ended her message with words of support for anyone touched by cancer, assuring, “Please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”
It marked a new level of transparency for the royal family, and it was a powerful leveler.
“It was her decision to share her message with the nation about her journey,” reveals a long-standing aide. “That is an incredible example of the inner strength that she has as an individual. It shows a huge amount of courage, and I think a lot of people have taken inspiration from that.”
People familiar with the prince and princess say it has been “a terribly hard time” for the family, but that the princess is resilient.
“Catherine has an inner strength, she’s a strong person and she will be drawing on that,” says the Waleses’ former private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who has known the princess for more than a decade. “That strength has been very useful when there has been turmoil in her life.”
Adds one friend: “The princess has William by her side, they are an incredibly strong team, and they will get through this. Their children are their absolute focus.”
When Kate was in the hospital, she did not want her children to see her in a gown and hooked up to monitors and tubes, so only William visited, and she made do with video calls home every day. “Things were so normal at home that George was playing a rugby match against another school while Kate was hospitalized,” notes a friend. At home, normality prevails, and publicly too. Birthdays have been marked with official photographs taken by the princess (Louis turned six in April and Charlotte nine in May) while William and Kate marked their 13th wedding anniversary on April 29 with the release of a previously unseen black-and-white photograph.
“William is a human being like everyone else, and it’s been a really difficult time for him too,” says an aide. “I think what’s important to him is that he’s there to support his wife and his children while continuing with his public duties.”
When William returned to work after the Easter holidays, the Middletons cocooned Kate. Her mother, Carole, was photographed driving Kate through Windsor while she was recovering from surgery, triggering ever more frenzied speculation about her condition.
When the palace released a picture of Kate and the children on Britain’s Mother’s Day, it was designed to quash the fevered speculation. Instead, the image set off a major PR disaster after several international newswires stopped distributing it because it had been manipulated, which Kate ultimately said was her fault.
“The information vacuum that the palace did not have the good sense to fill with honest, harmless stuff allowed these wild conspiracy theories to grow up,” says Jephson, who believes the palace should have been more open from the outset. “The emotional connection between the crown and the people is centuries old. Any time in history when the connection is lost or neglected has not played out well. The public’s love for the monarchy is its greatest strength. Its greatest guarantee of longevity. It is a delicate flower. It’s not the monarchy that’s delicate, it’s that love of the monarchy that’s delicate.”