Duchess’s gesture has a pointed political message for PM

Taken at face value, it was a personal display of sympathy for a young woman whose life was brutally and tragically cut short. No unscheduled public appearance by a member of the Royal family should ever be taken at face value, however.

In deciding to lay flowers on Clapham Common for Sarah Everard, the Duchess of Cambridge was making a not-so-subtle statement, knowing her message would be received loud and clear by the likes of Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Sadiq Khan.

Just in case they needed any help interpreting her actions, royal sources let it be known that she “remembers what it felt like to walk around London at night before she got married”.

This was the Duchess’s “MeToo” moment, in a week when women have insisted Miss Everard’s death must be a watershed for women’s safety.

It was also arguably the most calculated attempt to move the dial of a major political issue since the Queen’s famous 2014 intervention in the Scottish independence referendum.

On that occasion Her Majesty told well-wishers outside Crathie church near Balmoral that she hoped “people will think very carefully about the future” when they voted in the poll.

It later transpired that the seemingly spontaneous comment had been scripted with the help of senior aides.

Her Majesty still left a lot to chance – it only became public because journalists spoke to the royal fan with whom she had the conversation, who was happy to share it with them.

The Duchess took no such risks when she arrived at Clapham Common yesterday, knowing photographers and television cameras would be there to capture the moment, and that the very act of laying flowers would send an unmistakable message.

While members of the Royal family often lay flowers, they do so in their public capacity; for the wife of a future king to do so privately, without any personal connection to the victim, is almost without precedent.

Cynics, of course, will suggest that in a week when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey sent the Royal family into a flat spin, the Duchess was simply sent out by “the institution” to garner some positive headlines.

If anything, however, the opposite is more likely to be true. Palace aides would have anticipated such criticism a mile off, and may have advised the Duchess to stay at home.

It will not be lost on Mr Johnson that he was Mayor of London when the Duchess felt the same fear as every other woman as she walked home without the accompaniment of the protection officers who now guard her.

The Prime Minister rarely misses an opportunity to remind the public that he “cut the murder rate by 50 per cent”, and knife crime went down under his tenure.

The Duchess’s visit to Clapham Common was her way of telling him that he has unfinished business, and that it merits his urgent attention.