It was just two minutes, 15 seconds long, but in that time Princess Catherine cut through the noise – and there was a lot – and reached into hearts around the world with a video address that will surely go into the annals of royal history. She was poised and calm; those carefully chosen sentences poignant, expressive and powerful.
These were Catherine’s own words – not from a speech writer, private secretary or media adviser. She wanted to talk to her public direct, unfiltered, without any hint of spin-doctoring. And what she said touched on every aspect of her persona: public figure, working mother, wife and an active young woman shocked to be going through preventative cancer treatment.
The Princess wasn’t inside a palace or castle, but sitting alone on a simple bench, a field of yellow daffodils behind her, the hopeful signs of an English spring, also the flower associated with cancer charities. (Surely not a coincidence.)
Looking straight into the camera, Catherine showed us what dignity and courage looks like. She was gentle, honest, a little shaken, but full of purpose. From what she said, the Wales family was still processing the news and, most of all, Catherine was in mother-bear mode, eager to protect her three children from the anxiety of her health issues and – of course – from the media storm.
“Most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be okay,” Catherine explained. “As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits.”
As a specialist and activist in the importance of the early learning years, Catherine knows how her illness could affect George, 10, Charlotte, eight, and Louis, five.
Her children have rightly
