- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ |
Catherine, Princess of Wales praised for cancer video
A slick video by Catherine, Princess of Wales announcing that her chemotherapy has finished marks a dramatic shift in communications for the British royal family, media and commentators said Tuesday.
Kate, as she is widely known, posted the three-minute footage on social media on Tuesday, some six months after she dramatically revealed in another video that she was being treated for the condition.
But the intimate portrait of the 42-year-old princess, her husband Prince William and their young children was notable for its departure from the stiff formality of traditional royal public relations.
"It's groundbreaking, an absolute first, a tectonic shift in how the royal family controls its image," said PR consultant Mark Borkowski.
"Kate's journey is profound and deeply personal, but they've learned that emotion can be controlled –- and weaponised –- in small, potent doses.
"By doing this through a polished film, they maintain dignity and control while still appearing relatable."
The Times likened the video, shot by filmmaker Will Warr in the Norfolk countryside of eastern England where the family has a home, to a Hollywood trailer for the Instagram generation.
The daily assessed it was "the most intimate portrayal of royal family since (Queen Elizabeth II) invited a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew into her home in 1969".
"In 40 years of covering the Royal Family I have never seen anything like Catherine's video. It's a first for the royals," veteran photographer Arthur Edwards wrote in The Sun tabloid.
- Narrative -
Newspapers sought to decode the meaning behind the soft-focus scenes of the young family seeking solace in nature and enjoying each other's company.
Many saw in it a clear sign that the princess, who will be queen when William succeeds his father King Charles III, was carefully attempting to control the narrative of her illness.
"She's the one in the driving seat," said The Times, while Jennie Bond, a former BBC royal correspondent, said she was "putting down her marker" for the future.
"This is how she wants to communicate with people," she told Sky News.
"With this she has shown she wants to be straight with people, she wants to be direct, she wants the message to be quite simple."
The largely positive public response to the video comes after criticism of Kensington Palace, the couple's private office, and its handling of communications about Kate's illness this year.
Speculation ran riot, especially online, after Kate -- one of the world's most photographed women -- was not seen in public for months following abdominal surgery in January.
An attempt to silence the rumours failed in March, when a family portrait, issued by the palace, was found to have been digitally altered, fuelling the chatter.
Kate's announcement that she was being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer followed soon afterwards, prompting widespread public sympathy and support.
Borkowski said the latest video, and Kate's commentary accompanying it, showed the royal family was now "on the front foot".
"They lost control of the cancer narrative by staying silent," he added. "It shows they learnt from earlier mistakes," he added.
Like other senior royals, William and Kate have a strong social media presence, which is seen as essential to maintain the British royal family's relevance and appeal.
Since the late queen's death, Charles has faced vocal protests from republicans who want an elected head of state instead of a hereditary monarch, and a decline in support among younger people.
Royal author Robert Jobson, who has recently published a new biography on Kate, told reporters in London that accountability and transparency was "very important" for the taxpayer-funded royals.
According to The Sun, William, on a visit to Wales on Tuesday, told well-wishers that the end of Kate's chemotherapy was "good news" but added: "There is still a long way to go."
R.Adler--BTB