RICHARD EDEN: Verdict on Kate’s ‘un-regal’ film from Charles’s friend – and why I’m deeply concerned about this glossy PR strategy

Everyone close to the royal family is delighted that the Princess of Wales has completed her chemotherapy treatment and hopes she remains in remission from an unknown form of cancer.

But the super-slick video Kensington Palace released on Monday to provide a welcome update on her health has divided opinion among courtiers – and prompted scathing responses from some friends of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Their Majesties have yet to comment on the extraordinary three-minute film, made by Will Warr, who makes most of his money from creating advertising campaigns for companies including supermarket giant Tesco and delivery service Uber Eats. The film showed Prince William and Catherine frolicking on the beach and in the Norfolk forests with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

But the highly stylized video clearly shows how radically Prince William and Catherine’s approach to communication has changed compared to the more traditional methods used by the King and Queen, and before Queen Elizabeth.

Interestingly, Catherine’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, are seen in the video playing cards with their grandchildren at what appears to be Anmer Hall, the prince and princess’s home on the king’s estate, Sandringham, while King Charles and Queen Camilla are nowhere to be seen.

Some of the monarch’s friends are critical. One told me: ‘It’s no coincidence that the Middletons are in it and not the King and Queen. I can assure you that Charles and Camilla will not be filmed kissing on a beach. [as William and Catherine were] till hell freezes over. It is clearly un-royal.’

I spoke to another insider who was even more damning.

“All that hanging out, hugging and kissing – it’s not sentimental teenagers,” they said. “It felt manipulative. It’s the kind of thing Meghan would do.

‘All that time, effort and expense that went into making the video could have been much better spent elsewhere. Why not visit other women who are being treated for cancer? That’s what Diana would have done.’

While the film delighted and shocked viewers in equal measure, it’s not the first time Kensington Palace’s media team has released this kind of glossy extravaganza on social media. In May last year, the Waleses released a five-minute film about the coronation, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of William and Catherine as they prepared for the king’s big day, and once again their children were in full force.

“All that hanging out, hugging and kissing – they’re not sentimental teenagers,” an insider said. “It felt manipulative. It’s the kind of thing Meghan would do.”

And last December, the couple’s team published a similarly airbrushed annual review. I raised concerns about the strategy, which is being masterminded by Lee Thompson, who was appointed their PR chief in 2022.

He is said to have been tasked with promoting the couple’s social media profile, which now has 16.8 million followers on Instagram.

In his previous job at the leading American TV network CNBC, Thompson is said to have increased the number of viewers on YouTube by as much as 600 percent.

His appointment came after the pair were criticised – unfairly, in my view – for what was described as a “tone-less” tour of the West Indies in March 2022.

Last December I said on the Mail’s successful royal chat show Palace Confidential: ‘That Kensington Palace is going down this Hollywood-style video route makes me quite uncomfortable. William and Catherine are vulnerable to PR people who want them to be slick celebrities. That’s not what the royal family is. It’s important to make that distinction.’

I can assure you that Charles and Camilla will not be filmed kissing on the beach, a friend said

As sweet as I find the last video, I stand by those comments. William and Catherine don’t have to be ‘Instagram royals’, hungry for ‘likes’ and ‘engagement’ online.

They should follow the example of Queen Elizabeth. The late Queen always wanted to keep up with the latest technology, but at the same time maintain the dignity of the monarchy.

I’m sure she would have done the same as Catherine did with her statement in March, following her cancer diagnosis, and perhaps released a simple video updating the nation on her health – but no more than that.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment. After the release of Catherine’s video, a spokesman said: ‘Their Majesties are considering the details in [the] “We are thrilled with this news and will continue to offer the Princess all our love, thoughts and support on her road to full recovery.”

A Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment on why the Middletons appear in the video but not Their Majesties.

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