Charles and Camilla are not the only members of the family to have shown a more relaxed side in recent months. In October last year – her first royal engagement since announcing her cancer diagnosis – the Princess of Wales met Liz Hatton, an aspiring photographer with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, who was invited to take pictures at investitures at Windsor Castle. In a gesture of heartfelt intimacy, Kate Middleton leant in to embrace the teenager, who described her and Prince William as ‘such lovely, genuine and kind people’ on social media, proclaiming herself ‘over the moon’ to have met them.
This came just a month after Kate Middleton chose to make one of her most personal announcements to date: a video, shared on social media, in which she explained that she was cancer free. This was no straightforward statement, however. The highly intimate footage showed Kate and William in their private roles as Mum and Dad, relaxing on the beaches of Norfolk with their arms around one another, laughing as they lay in the sand. They could be seen strolling through the woods with their children, George, Charlotte and Louis, as well as playing card games with Kate’s parents, Carol and Michael Middleton. Few had ever seen Kate and William engaging in such displays of affection – but here they were, like any other married couple, in recovery after a brutal diagnosis.
Following her meeting with Liz Hatton, the Princess continued her more tactile approach when out and about. On Christmas Day at Sandringham, following the traditional church service, Kate embraced 73-year-old Karen Maclean from North Lincolnshire, who said she had also been suffering from cancer. Maclean called the hug a ‘privilege’ and described it to The Sun as a ‘surreal moment. You get a camaraderie with other cancer victims. Unless you’ve been on that journey, you can’t understand what it’s like.’