Kate, the Princess of Wales, will win her medical battle, but it will leave scars. Her house is under attack. Her credibility as a senior royal has taken a hit. The period of healing she may have allowed herself, considering that she is recovering from a serious surgery, will have to be reduced, given the world’s obsession with her showing up. Royals must be seen to be believed; Queen Elizabeth II lived by it. Since the so-called #Kategate, cancer patient Kate Middleton—let us drop the royal title for the time being and just see her for who she is at the moment—might not want to.
However, last Friday she went the extra mile by putting out a video from the grounds of Windsor Castle outing herself as a cancer patient, to be a symbol of hope to the cancer community and the ailing of the world. The setting was to the point: in the background were daffodils, long associated with cancer patients, and more importantly survivors. This time, she was not surrounded by her family, choosing to take full responsibility in public view, sacrificing family time before Easter. The world’s banal and cruel curiosity, however, has seen no let-up. Despite the collective gasp at that first announcement, the response to the video has ranged between calling the video “an AI-enabled deepfake” and blaming Russian and Chinese hands behind the troll-storm. The intimate plight of a young mother of three having to deal with an unprecedented crisis, of a young husband who may be anxious about the health of the most important woman in his life, seems to have been lost in the surround sound.
Cancer has hit key Windsor royals in quick succession—Sarah Ferguson, King Charles III and now Kate Middleton. That the discovery and announcement of her cancer has not re-focused world attention on the disease is a missed opportunity—especially for the Windsor family, given that it also patronises several cancer charities. Given their track record, the protocol and mechanism for conveying bad news to the public should have been a well-oiled machinery by now. An ailing royal, at the end of day, should evoke empathy. Middleton deserves this for having consistently had the family’s back. Social media conspiracy theorists should pause their skulduggery and newspapers their spins—right now.