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The Princess of Wales has just pulled off an unthinkable coup for the crown by stealing directly from her sister-in-law Meghan's playbook. After months of chemotherapy, Katherine's cancer treatment is finally over and she's beginning the slow and steady climb back to public life. Moreover, this brilliant news came on Tuesday with the most unbelievably personal, heartfelt, and powerful bit of royal messaging since anyone's bothered to start writing their speeches down.
In the 3 minute video, I literally got chills watching this and I bet that I'm not the only one. She didn't have to film a deeply personal message sitting on a Windsor garden bench with daffodils, a discordant bit of vibrancy announcing that she had cancer in March. In June, she didn't have to pen and release a statement telling us she was having good days and bad days. She didn't need to let a film crew into the Wales's most private space and home and family life to capture and not only show them but their marriage in such an incredibly intimate way.
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Kate had shown incredible vulnerability and a willingness to fight her fight in public view in a way no royal family member has ever before. According to latest sources, Catherine has taken a top spot in the new poll around royal popularity. But surprisingly, her husband lost second place to another unsuspecting royal. The way the Princess of Wales has handled this year might have just saved the monarchy, at least from any growing republican rumblings or verbal resentment of the crown in the meritorious 21st century. To some degree, King Charles's cancer diagnosis has played a part in this too but only to a teeny tiny fraction compared to the fundamental and profound way the princess's openness throughout the year has.
The second place spot actually went to Princess Anne, who is viewed favorably by a whopping 70% of the UK public. She stepped up quite a bit in early 2024 when both Charles and Catherine were out for medical leave, and she took on more royal engagements in 2023 more so than any other family member. The public has grown to love her dedication to her family and to various charitable issues. Meanwhile, Prince William might have to deal with always taking a backseat to his wife in terms of popularity. The prince snagged the third place spot with 59% of the UK public thinking favorably of him.
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Interestingly though, Prince Harry's wife overall received a negative score - she actually only came in two percentage points behind William in the 18 to 24 year-old range. That said, Meghan's popularity is much stronger amongst young people, which is a good sign for her future in the UK. Prince Harry's overall popularity was 10 percentage points higher than Meghan's, but still landed in the negatives.
It's unthinkable that we would be here today having this conversation without a certain couple who are now busy off fermenting their own soy paste in Montecito. From the forceful statement Prince Harry released in 2016 after "the duchess" to all six hours of "Harry & Meghan," the Sussexes were the original trailblazers for this sort of open and very human style of connecting to the world. This year, Catherine has taken us, the people, to a previously unthinkable degree on this journey with her rather than tried and tested excluding the world. She's included us in a way to and to an extent that no one could have predicted as the year concludes.
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As the year concludes, Katherine Middleton's comments point to a new direction for the Princess of Wales. Her health remains a priority, she wrote, and her focus is on remaining cancer-free. In addition, the princess revealed that she has not fully recovered despite having completed her chemotherapy. Therefore, she will undertake a few more engagements when she is able to do so. However, she did write that moving forward she would enter life with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation for it. Until then, she would take each day as it comes.
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