Catherine’s moving message revealing her treatment for cancer showed a candour that the monarchy has often lacked
The video recording in which Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she is undergoing treatment for cancer will be remembered as a moving personal testament and a public profile in courage at a time of great challenges for the monarchy. Catherine’s demeanour was calm, her clothes and appearance ordinary, her voice steady, although the strain showed behind her eyes. Yet most of all, it was Catherine’s bravery that shone through as she described the “incredibly tough” two months that she, her husband and children have endured since her illness, so shocking and unexpected, was first diagnosed.
All those people across Britain who are afflicted by cancer – the total is about 3 million, with about 1,000 new diagnoses each day – and relatives and friends whose lives are upended by the disease will identify closely with the feelings Catherine expressed or intimated. Fear for the future, present pain, the often distressing side effects of modern treatments, worry about the impact on the children: such thoughts besiege and oppress the mind even as the body struggles. Catherine spoke vicariously for all who suffer.
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