The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Bolstered ranks of royals gives Princess peace and quiet she needs
NEWS of a palace announcement has not, in recent times, often been a cause for celebration.
This year, in fact, it has heralded worse and worse news: first the illness of the King and Princess of Wales, then his cancer, then hers.
Today’s update, that the King’s treatment is going well enough for him to return to public duties, will therefore be all the more welcomed with delight and relief by followers of the Royal family, who have missed the stars of the show.
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 rightful 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.
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’s 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 fight for calm stability as best they can in their extraordinary lives.
As such, there have been no hints as to when or how she will make a return to the high profile public duties she has so excelled at since joining the Royal family.
The King “remained in the closest contact with his beloved daughter-inlaw throughout the past weeks,” it was said at the time of her cancer video, 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, the social media commentary saw conspiracy theories and rumours fly around the globe under the hashtag #whereiskate.
Since the Princess authorised the release of a 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 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”.
It is enough to give hope to her admirers that she may feel able to follow in the King’s public footsteps, even briefly, before too long.
Until then, fans of the Royal family can bask in the rare sensation of relief and good news. The return of the King is quite enough for one day.