We open with trees and dappled sunlight. Then ferns, close-up in all their magical symmetry. A slow piano begins, setting the tone.
The camera reveals the Princess of Wales in a simple white sundress decorated with black broderie anglaise at the wheel of her car as she drives through country lanes.
‘As the summer comes to an end,’ she begins, ‘I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have finally completed my chemotherapy treatment…’
The lens lingers on her hand as it rests gently on the gearstick, the jewels on her ring finger softly glowing. Cut to slow-motion walking, some standing near a tree, a close-up on those famously luscious locks, and then the footage jolts into a home-movie style reel. Prince William and the children, dressed in artfully mismatched weekend casual, larking around in the Norfolk sand dunes.
The princess leans her head on his shoulder as they toy with each other’s hands, they giggle as they lie, arms intertwined, on the sand.
In an uplifting video message shared today, the Princess of Wales revealed she has finished her course of ‘preventative chemotherapy’
The princess’ personal message to the nation is accompanied by a stunning three-minute long video showing her and William in Norfolk with their three children
Catherine spoke of her ‘relief’ at her programme of chemo finally coming to an end
Catherine and Princess Charlotte link arms as they walk through a field
Catherine hugs Charlotte during a tender exchange caught on camera
The Cambridges and their three children clamber over tree trunks near their Norfolk home
‘Is this recording?’ asks Prince George, as his face zooms in on the camera, his mother smiling quietly to herself in the background. They play cards with Granny and Grandpa Middleton. Later, the princess walks alone through a summer field, her fingers trailing the long grass, the evening sun burning on the lens, before the soaring crescendo of piano and strings, faintly Celtic in tone, indicates the climax of this charming royal tableau.
The voiceover is the princess’s own; as for the rest – well, it’s pure silver screen. The moment in the field is unmistakeably reminiscent of the opening frames of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Is there a subliminal message here?
Either way, as royal announcements go, it certainly represents quite a departure. Not even the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have ever managed to produce anything this slick or so emotionally charged.
It also stands in stark contrast to the King’s own approach. His Majesty has adopted a fairly old-school, stoical attitude to his own illness, continuing to make public appearances and seeming – on the surface at least – to be the very personification of that old Churchillian adage, KBO (Keep Buggering On). The Princess of Wales’s cancer journey meanwhile has – on the surface at least – been rather different.
Granted, we don’t know – and will likely never know – the exact nature of her diagnosis. But, whatever the physical effects, emotionally it seems to have hit her very hard – a ‘scary and unpredictable time’, as she herself says.
As is often the case when serious illness strikes, it has caused her to look deep into herself, to ‘reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved’.
Where the King has coped by trying to keep business as usual as much as humanly possible, the princess has almost completely withdrawn from public life. This film marks the beginning of her return.
There might be some royal watchers who will judge it a little over-the-top. It certainly has an Instagrammable quality to it, a visual sophistication which traditionalists might find slightly jarring.
But I think that’s a generational thing. The Prince and Princess of Wales are millennial royals. They grew up in a visual age, but also an age where expressing one’s feelings is not so frowned upon as it was for King Charles and his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.
There is also a strong sense here that this is not just about the Waleses as a family – but William and Kate as a couple. They are not often given to PDAs – public displays of affection – but that does not mean they don’t love each other deeply.
Princess Catherine’s mother Carole featured in the emotional video announcing the end of Kate’s cancer
Kate Middleton’s family featured in the emotional three-minute video
The family share a cosy picnic
Princess Charlotte hugs her parents as they look out over a beach in Norfolk
The Cambridge children are seen playing around in intimate family scenes
Catherine kisses her eldest’s head in a tender embrace
Cheeky Louis is seen climbing a tree while his mother watches on
Catherine appeared happy and relaxed in the video, which will delight her millions of supporters
Catherine and William hug each other on a picnic blanket in an adorable moment from the video
Here we see a little of that love expressed physically in a way that is as unexpected as it is unfamiliar. They are presenting themselves not only as Royals, parents – but also as sweethearts.
It’s also a tacit but highly effective rebuttal of the rumours, largely put about on social media, that have dogged them in recent years.
Would I have dialled down the slow-motion whimsy a little? Probably. But there is no doubting the authenticity here, or the heartfelt intention – and a genuine desire to connect with the public on a human level, to thank the nation for its patience, and to show real gratitude for all the support.
But, for me, what’s perhaps most touching about this film is the way the Waleses have turned the princess’s experience into something positive; such a contrast to the response of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to their own travails, which only seem to have led them down a more and more negative path.
The truth is we all face challenges in life, whether through illness, misfortune or otherwise. The real test is what you learn from these experiences, and where they take you.
It seems to me that, despite it all (not just the cancer but the awful Windsor infighting), the princess is in a happy place. It’s joyful to see.