LIZ JONES: Kate’s video was so moving, but something doesn’t feel right to me… and I fear others will see through it

It started so movingly, so powerfully. A simple, stark message from Catherine.

‘As summer draws to a close, I can’t express what a relief it is to finally have completed my chemotherapy.

“The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family. Life as you know it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and unfamiliar roads.”

A few simple words that we have all been waiting for with anticipation. Phew. I had tears in my eyes.

What started as a heartfelt message, a tonic, a relief after all the months of obscurity, degenerated into a Boden advert, writes Liz Jones. Pictured: a still from the Waleses’ video

But then, suddenly and inexplicably, what started as a sincere message, a tonic, a relief after months of obscurity, degenerated into a Boden ad. Or something Marc Jacobs might use to sell fragrance.

There were trees. And ferns, so many ferns. Dappled sunlight. The kind of partying of children among farm machinery and ploughed fields that seemed set not in 2024 but around World War II, not least because of the old-fashioned movie camera effects. Maybe that was the message. Kate has been through hell, through a fight. And she wins.

And yet the ‘highly choreographed’ (those were the words used by the usually obsequious ITV News at Ten), slick and blurry three-minute video released yesterday [on Monday afternoon] was certainly as misjudged as the 1969 documentary that tried to portray the royal family as ‘normal’ but had such an adverse effect that the Queen made sure it was never shown again.

The Princess of Wales says it’s been ‘incredibly tough’ but the problem is it all looks like a picture-perfect walk in the park, writes Liz Jones

If that year-in-the-life documentary about the monarch was accused of ruining the royal mystique by making them seem like any other “modern” family, this new video tried to do the opposite. To paint the Waleses as hyperreal, perfect, retro. Like something out of an Enid Blyton novel. But why on earth? Surely a real representation would show the children on their phones. Catherine would look tired and brooding, not perfect with her auburn hair.

She says it’s been “incredibly tough,” but the problem is that it all looks like a picture-perfect walk in the park. Only William looks almost real. Lying on various blankets, or on the sand, he’s awkward, as if he’s lying there, limbs carefully arranged like a marionette.

Catherine, towards the end of her voiceover (also odd, making the video sound like a nature documentary), talks about walking side by side, hand in hand with other cancer patients, but in this short film she has never seemed so distant. It doesn’t help that her words are backed by a soundtrack of slow, “emotional” piano.

Cancer is messy, imperfect, crushing. After all the mental health initiatives, her work emphasizing the importance of shaping young minds, this strange, strange film feels like a failure for a family once so protective of their privacy. It reeks of something Meghan and Harry might dream up: Hallmark, cringy, clichéd. Not real or not at all heartfelt.

How can we take William seriously, when we’ve seen his bare legs around his wife? Liz Jones writes

Wouldn’t it have meant more if Catherine had spoken out about the type of cancer she had, and possibly saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives? Perhaps a video of her meeting other women with the same diagnosis? Where was the Catherine of that Windsor bench, the one who bared her soul and told us about her diagnosis? Replaced by a chimera. An ideal. An illusion.

Who at Kensington Palace thought this was the right thing to do? There was a lot of sober commentary in the papers yesterday saying that Kate had taken control and driven the narrative. But it all seems wrong and the public sees through it. After a strange video of her looking ecstatic leaving a farm shop, and glowing appearances at the Trooping of the Colour and Wimbledon, we suddenly have a burst of intimacy that to me, to many of us, seems a little bit… desperate. Why did they do something that looks like a Vogue backstage video? One message on X: ‘This is not what cancer looks like. Other patients will think, ‘Well, I’m doing it all wrong.’

Others commented: ‘Why all the wardrobe changes, the soft music, the slow motion?’

“I think the idea was to show that they’re a happy family. But if you have to try this hard…”

‘It looks like a Center Parcs commercial.’

“I can’t imagine Charles and Camilla releasing something like that if he gets the green light.”

In my opinion, the portrayal of our next king was also not quite right. How can we take William seriously now that we have seen his bare legs wrapped around his wife? The monarchy is hanging by a thread, so don’t let our credibility be tested too much. This film was all too easily dismissed as manipulative by those who don’t like the royals. I am of course a fervent supporter, but even I don’t want another Instagram account where we spoon fantasy into our open mouths, as if we were baby birds, not adults with our own growing problems.

I’m not against tactile. I loved the shots of Diana hugging her boys and laughing. But those shots were spontaneous. Not choreographed at all.