How Kate and William turned around their hardest year yet

It started with vile rumours about the Prince and Princess’s relationship and the devastating news of cancer diagnoses for the King and his daughter-in-law. As the year closes, Tessa Dunlop assesses how an annus horribilis for the Windsors has turned into something more complex

Will and Kate glow with happiness in their Christmas card image (PA)

There is no escaping that 2024 looked very much like the royals’ annus horribilis: 12 months that recast monarchy in a new and fragile light. Cancer encroached on sacred ground, trolls banged on palace doors, and Prince Andrew plumbed fresh depths of disrepute, a feat previously thought impossible. Privilege gave our family firm no place to hide; beware the ides of March, by which time both the King and his daughter-in-law were already en route to reinventing royalty.

Self-protection and public pressure led to the unprecedented (partial) sharing of private health information, with a naive photoshopped family snap giving way to cleverly curated films. The Princess of Wales found her voice; informing the public of her cancer diagnosis, and later admitting the journey was “complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you”.

However, less than 12 months later, the princess has ended this “hardest of years” on a reputational high.

Indeed, what started as an annus horribilis for the Windsors has become something more complex; devastating health blows for certain family members have intersected with our most venerable institution of state and recast royal players. Any cancer diagnosis is a bitter blow. For Kate, in mid-life with three young children, the shock of the “C” word and the gruelling treatment it necessitated led to her being reframed in the public consciousness.

The mob braying “where is Kate?” stepped into line, sympathy gave way to respect, and then joy: the princess glowed at the Trooping of the Colour parade and was joyful in festive red at the year’s-end Together at Christmas carol concert. Hallelujah!

Kate has not walked alone. Naysayers who doubted William’s mettle have been forced to rethink. The Prince of Wales is royalty’s new rock, a reincarnation of his late grandmother, the steadfast anchor who changed it up with designer stubble when his wife was out of action, a woman’s man who unambiguously declared 2024 more than brutal, in fact the toughest year of his life.

The nation fell in love with Diana’s firstborn all over again. We had forgotten how tall he is, and how comfortable he is in his own skin. So comfy even Trump couldn’t bring himself to manhandle the future king on his pop-over to Paris. (Macron who? The French president was the small one). Without doubt, the rebirth of the Waleses as the country’s number one couple has moved our monarchy into a new space. These days they appear to be a double act, even when apart.

In a video released by the couple, William and Kate are shown together in the outdoors (PA)

But every royal success story casts a shadow. And for once I am not talking about the Sussexes (who are often apart, according to transatlantic gossip. Except on their Christmas – ahem – Holiday card). Rather it is our monarch who’s feeling the squeeze. There is no doubting the King’s great affection for his stoic, dignified daughter-in-law, but beyond the platitudes and dewy-eyed respect is an inescapable sadness.

This was the man who waited 73 long years for the big gig only to be hobbled within 18 months of getting it. To compound the problem even when he successfully postponed his treatment and travelled halfway across the world to wow the tepid commonwealth, there was his wife’s health to consider. Older than him at 77, Queen Camilla has not been in the best of health since she returned from Australia: a chest infection, pneumonia, post-viral fatigue. A salient reminder that long-haul travel, a gruelling schedule and old age don’t necessarily mix. A problem compounded by the late Queen and Philip’s ability to make OAP monarchy look easy.

Andrew continues to loom over the royal family with his habit of courting all the wrong people (PA)

All the while, wonder-boy William has been mopping up after his father. The Earthshot Prize in South Africa, Homelessness on ITV, Paris for the president-elect and wise words about his wonderful wife. While he got the set pieces, only one head shouldered the sovereign’s burden. The full-fat menu of kingship sits with Charles, and that includes an invidious side-serving of Prince Andrew, a lump of gristle that won’t go away.

All that secrecy and someone was always going to come unstuck. It is remarkable that we spent much of the year exclaiming at how open Charles and Kate had been for uttering the word “cancer” when the operational reality of monarchy remains a great big mystery. Transparency, there is virtually none. And the labyrinthine royal maze regrettably still includes Andrew. Despite his proven lack of judgement (see his initial refusal to denounce the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and the small matter of a £12m legal settlement just months before the late Queen’s platinum jubilee), in his capacity as both a prince and a duke, Andrew continues to woo all the wrong friends. As for influence, apparently that was left to the Chinese government.

Kate’s fortitude has been a sight to behold (AP)

The businessman and alleged spy in question, Yang Tenbo, was eventually named. He is believed to be associated with the United Front Work Department, a secretive arm of the Chinese state. This same man also sat at the “top of [the Prince’s] tree”. A tree that apparently “many, many people would like to be on”.

It beggars belief. Or does it? Since his fall from grace in 2019, Andrew has been cut off from the royal gravy train. These days, the disgraced duke even has to mend his own gigantic roof (yes, he remains in the Royal Lodge). Andrew needs lots of money, and despite coming unstuck during the Epstein furore, he still enjoys levels of protection from public scrutiny the rest of us can only dream of. Decades on, Andrew’s time as a trade envoy cannot be investigated because as a royal he is granted special protection. (Access to his files is prohibited until 2065). Nor will a freedom of information (FOI) request yield results: royals are exempt from the FOI Act. Even “non-working” princes play by different rules. Apparently, their privacy matters more than the public interest.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been making a go of life outside the royal circle (Archewell Foundation)

Despite (or perhaps because of) all the secrecy, Andrew’s murky legacy has remained at the top of the King’s in-tray, both pre and post-cancer. It certainly puts William’s cold war with sibling Harry into perspective. The latter’s efforts at earning money may be loose-lipped and a little self-involved but at least the Sussexes are trying to go their own way. and realising, as many mock their efforts, that it is not that easy. And yet, despite the gravity of Andrew’s most recent predicament, the King’s solution – to mothball his younger brother, who didn’t Christmas at Sandringham this year – is far too little, too late.

If only Charles could see that this sorry saga is much bigger than Andrew; the matter goes to the heart of the royal family and its future success. Above all else, the health challenges of 2024 have underlined the value of our constitutional monarchy: their special place in our national story, the position they hold apart from politics, their humanity engaging worldwide audiences and winning the respect of even the toughest political players.

Shining bright: William, Kate and their children at the Together at Christmas carol service (Getty)

William insists he wants to provide compassionate leadership amid a dangerous new dawn of showy nationalism. To help him perform that onerous task, it is vital the King leans in. He may never be the star turn his late mother was, or that his son is fast becoming, but Charles could make a name for himself as a monarch who oversees much-needed root-and-branch reform.

Increased transparency about royal financing and vested interests, and fewer exemptions from scrutiny, would place the royal family on a similar footing to other public institutions. In the long term, a more open-book monarchy would increase trust, while protecting against the perils of outside nefarious forces. And it would protect the royals from themselves. No amount of future-proofing can guarantee against cancer, but progressive reforms initiated by the King would help preserve the Windsor magic and sparkle for the next generation. To quote from the Princess of Wales’s summer video: “Out of darkness can come light, so let that light shine bright.”

Tessa Dunlop is the author of Elizabeth and Philip, the story of young love, marriage and monarchy, Headline Press, 2022