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8 months ago
30
Catherine is hardly the first Princess of Wales to find herself the subject of overwhelming scrutiny.
The often fraught relationship between her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, and the media must surely have played a part in the Waleses’ guarded approach when it comes to details of home and family life.
Who could blame them?
Yet, it’s easily forgotten that Diana’s dealings with the press had once been overwhelmingly positive.
Lady Diana Spencer, as she then was, passing waiting television cameras outside her flat at Coleherne Court in November 1980
In the early days of her courtship with Charles, journalists who spent time on the doorstep of her Kensington flat hoping for a few quick words were surprised to find how friendly Diana was.
Perhaps, looking back, we can detect the start of future troubles in such openness. At the time, however, it was refreshing to see a potential member of the Royal Family seeming to be so approachable.
Such was the enthusiasm for Diana - and such was the shortage of other supposedly suitable partners for a future monarch who was by then in his thirties and had played the field - that important questions were ignored.
Little attention was paid to the story of her unhappy childhood, or to the personal insecurity that had continued to develop in her.
Years later, Diana confessed to me that, in all her years as a Princess of Wales, she never got used to the adoration of the public.
Looking delighed, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer are pictured at Broadlands shortly after their engagement, in March 1981
Diana, Princess of Wales braves wet, blustery weather to meet the crowd waiting to see her outside Capital Radio in London, in 1982
But the truth is that she had courted Hollywood style-publicity then found she was unable to control it – and at risk of being consumed by it.
It’s is a lesson that her son, William, and Catherine will most certainly have learned.
We can see it in the determination to steer their own line through choppy waters. To deal with private problems on their own terms.
I applaud the Prince and Princess of Wales for trying to face down the sewer of social media and maintain some dignity. Quite right.
This, in the long run, is what we expect of royals.
There can be no victory over the trolls prepared to say and do anything at all, apparently at no cost to themselves.
The Waleses are determined to avoid becoming characters in other people’s fantasy, says Ingrid Seward
The Princess of Wales makes a broadcast to the nation in which she revealed a cancer diagnosis that 'she had every right to keep private'
Kate meets members of the public during a walkabout after visiting Aberavon, South Wales, in February 2023
Kate Middleton leaving her home in Chelsea on her 25th birthday
William and Catherine have kept their heads. They have been the epitome of the expression ‘keep calm and carry on’.
If journalists and photographers are not the Waleses’ friends, as they were Diana’s (some, at least), neither are they enemies.
Now that Catherine has revealed her cancer diagnosis in that emotional broadcast to the nation, she and her family seem to be enjoying some privacy at last.
‘Deeply frustrated’ as William might be about the recent furore, he has remained calm, in public, at least. His support was movingly acknowledged by Catherine in her video.
The Prince of Wales has carried on with his work where possible, allowing his office to come up with ideas for his wife’s public comeback, whenever that might be.
Kate and William have faced their difficulties in a friendly but detached way and moved on.
That is what they have always done. It’s as it should be.
- Ingrid Seward is the Editor in Chief of Majesty Magazine. Her latest book is My Mother and I – the inside story of the King and our late Queen. Published by Simon and Schuster. £25
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