Kate Middleton and family are about to face their most serious test yet

There was a day, circa 1066-1953, when all a future king needed to learn was how not to fall off their horse when addressing their troops and to develop a real taste for killing small birds.

School and formal education, you see, were for people who would one day have “jobs” or would need to earn money, since their ancestors had the misfortune of not having colonized the subcontinent. (A holy cash cow?)

Sadly for Prince George, he was born at a time when the royal family had decided that raising their children “normally” was the plan, even though his 13 years of schooling will lead precisely nowhere. This is not a kid who is ever going to need to bother to attend a job fair.

However, when the Easter half-term break ends on April 17 and he is dropped off at Lambrook school – just him, his Spider-Man lunch box and an armed security detail — it will not be business as usual.

Next week will see the prince, his sister Princess Charlotte, brother Prince Louis and father Prince William all return to their normal lives for the first time since their mother Kate, the Princess of Wales, revealed to the world that she has cancer. And that means the Wales family is about to face their most serious stress test yet.

It was only just over two weeks ago that Kate left the world reeling with her news, a development so closely guarded the UK media was only given 90 minutes warning. The timing of the video was no accident, going out two hours after the end of the school term.

This meant that just as the storm was breaking, William and Kate were able to protect their kids and could abscond to their Norfolk home Anmer Hall to do suitably wholesome things and ride out the initial frenzy.

But all fairytales, even actual royal ones, must come to an end. What Kate and William face now is finding out whether their carefully wrought plans for her treatment and recovery will hold up in the harsh light of actual day.

For the first time since the world learned about the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis, the Prince of Wales will return to the royal coalface and their children will be shunted back to Lambrook to continue to learn the imperfect tense in French.

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Kate Middleton and family are about to face their most serious test yet: opinionKate Middleton and family are about to face their most serious…

Kate Middleton and family are about to face their most serious test yet: opinion
By Daniela Esler, News.com.au
Published April 9, 2024, 5:51 p.m. ET
There was a day, circa 1066-1953, when all a future king needed to learn was how not to fall off their horse when addressing their troops and to develop a real taste for killing small birds. School and formal education, you see, were for people who would one day have “jobs” or would need to earn money, since their ancestors had the misfortune of not having colonized the subcontinent. (A holy cash cow?)

Sadly for Prince George, he was born at a time when the royal family had decided that raising their children “normally” was the plan, even though his 13 years of schooling will lead precisely nowhere. This is not a kid who is ever going to need to bother to attend a job fair.

However, when the Easter half-term break ends on April 17 and he is dropped off at Lambrook school – just him, his Spider-Man lunch box and an armed security detail — it will not be business as usual.

Kate Middleton announced her cancer diagnosis hours after her children’s school term ended.
3
Kate Middleton announced her cancer diagnosis hours after her children’s school term ended.
BBC Studios
Next week will see the prince, his sister Princess Charlotte, brother Prince Louis and father Prince William all return to their normal lives for the first time since their mother Kate, the Princess of Wales, revealed to the world that she has cancer. And that means the Wales family is about to face their most serious stress test yet.

It was only just over two weeks ago that Kate left the world reeling with her news, a development so closely guarded the UK media was only given 90 minutes warning. The timing of the video was no accident, going out two hours after the end of the school term.

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This meant that just as the storm was breaking, William and Kate were able to protect their kids and could abscond to their Norfolk home Anmer Hall to do suitably wholesome things and ride out the initial frenzy.

Read Kate Middleton’s full statement on her cancer diagnosis
But all fairytales, even actual royal ones, must come to an end. What Kate and William face now is finding out whether their carefully wrought plans for her treatment and recovery will hold up in the harsh light of actual day.

For the first time since the world learned about the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis, the Prince of Wales will return to the royal coalface and their children will be shunted back to Lambrook to continue to learn the imperfect tense in French.

In the wake of Kate’s cancer news, Kensington Palace made clear how the couple want things to go: William will get back out there and get back to work, posing for selfies with people who put their own trash out and doing his bit to bang the climate crisis drum, but to a lesser extent than normally.

The princess, of course, will be out of sight with no known return date even vaguely mooted, as she undergoes chemo; and the kids will not be allowed to get out their homework.

But you know what they say about best-laid plans …

The questions remain, will Prince William be able to juggle his princely duty while earning his husband of the year badge, all while contorting himself to manage it all like a Cirque du Soleil performer? What will actually happen when the Wales kids are back on the hand-hewn swing set at little lunch? And will not only the British press but the public accede to the Waleses’ request for privacy now that there are probably even bigger dollar figures attached?

Take what William is going to be up against.

You and I might not have a scepter to our names, but at least we are allowed to feel our feelings in private and not have to be put on display while going through something traumatic and deeply upsetting. (We’ve got the better end of this bargain, I reckon).

The next time that William turns up in public, it will be with the world knowing that his wife is battling cancer and that her disappearance from view is not a temporary blip, but an aberration in an otherwise steady drumbeat of glossy coupley official outings. The 41-year-old will have no choice but to go into the wide world and have the full force and intensity of public feeling imposed upon him.

On a personal level, the prince will have to find some sort of vague balance between the millstone of his royal responsibilities, supporting his wife and being present and emotionally available for his kids.

That’s a hell of a lot for one man to have on his plate, even if he is a man who has never actually carried his own plate in his life.

Next, there is the question of how the Wales kids will fare at this extraordinary time.

George might have a retinue of bodyguards who probably know 17 ways to kill someone using only their bare hands but even they can’t save him from schoolyard gossip.

As a palace source told the Telegraph: “George is ten now and can’t be shielded from any of this now. Once it’s at the school gate and in the school playground, he won’t be able to avoid it.”