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| Sean Coughlan | Royal Correspondent |
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| Welcome to this week’s Royal Watch.
It’s been a long grey winter, gloomy in many ways for royal news. With Easter arriving and the seasons changing, we might all be craving some sunshine among the showers.
The video from the Princess of Wales had sad news about her cancer diagnosis, but it drew a very warm public response. The King has been undergoing cancer treatment too, but he is expected to make his biggest appearance this year at the Easter Sunday service.
And, an entertaining story from the 1930s reveals more about the history of edited royal images. | |
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How Kate's video changed public opinion | In two minutes and 15 seconds, the Princess of Wales changed the public mood.
That was the length of her video explaining that she was receiving cancer treatment, with the message appearing to produce a complete shift in attitude.
The simply delivered statement, the first time we’d heard her speak this year, meant that much of the crazy speculation about her health stopped. |
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 | Kate has asked for “time, space and privacy” as she deals with her diagnosis, which dominated British newspaper front pages. Credit: Getty | Instead we’ve seen a wave of sympathy and, from your emails, a sense that we should leave the princess to recover.
“Every once in a while humanity needs a wake-up call,” wrote Margo, a Royal Watch reader in Canada.
Linda from the US said: “The Royal Family has previously used ‘never complain, never explain’, but it’s worth asking was anyone better off for all of this craziness?”
Prince Harry and Meghan have also publicly wished Kate “health and healing”.
There were positive signs from Kensington Palace too, who said the princess was expected to make a full recovery. |
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|  | On a trip to Shrewsbury on Wednesday, Queen Camilla told the public she would pass on well wishes for Kate. Credit: Getty | The announcement that Catherine has been getting cancer treatment since late February rewrote what we understood about recent weeks. It also explains the mysterious absence of Prince William from his godfather’s memorial service.
For now, the pressure for any public appearances is off the princess. We’ll see in the months ahead how the palace manages Kate’s return to public life. |
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What was driving the rumour machine? | There were days recently when it felt like social media was overflowing with wild rumours about the royals.
Security experts told the BBC they found signs of deliberate, co-ordinated efforts to spread conspiracy theories. |
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 | King Charles has shared that he is “so proud of Catherine for her courage". Credit: Getty | People were already interested and sharing rumours, but there were also organised groups with huge numbers of fake accounts using the situation as a way to spread disinformation and cause confusion.
Researchers at Cardiff University suggested a disinformation network in Russia, with a record of such activity, had been involved. |
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King Charles to appear at Easter service | Easter weekend is approaching and there seems to be an encouraging sign about the King’s health.
Buckingham Palace says he will attend the Easter Sunday church service in St George’s Chapel in Windsor. |
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 | The Easter church service is a regular feature of the royal calendar. Credit: Getty | This traditional Easter morning gathering for the royals will be his most significant event since his cancer diagnosis.
But the service will be less well attended than usual; the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their children are not expected this year. |
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Maundy money given out by Camilla | Another annual tradition ahead of Easter, is for the royals to take part in the Maundy Thursday service.
Monarchs give out ceremonial coins, called the Maundy money. Traditionally, the number of people who receive the money is linked to the monarch’s age.
This year 75 men and 75 women received the special coins, as Charles is 75 years old. |
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 | Queen Camilla attended the Maundy Thursday service on the King's behalf. Credit: Jacob King/PA Wire | The coins can be used in shops, but those who receive them often hold on to them as keepsakes too.
The service itself dates back to 600AD, and the coins given out haven’t changed much since 1670. |
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 | The late Queen Elizabeth distributes Maundy money in Wakefield, England in 2005. Credit: Getty | This year it was Queen Camilla, standing in for the King, who gave the gifts to older people who have served their communities.
Although King Charles did not attend, he sent a recorded message, with a poignant reminder that he saw his role as “not to be served, but to serve”. |
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If the royal face fits | The controversy over the edited royal photograph released on Mother’s Day has prompted memories of other alterations to images.
In the 1930s, the Illustrated London News had prepared a special edition for the Coronation of Edward VIII.
Except of course, Edward VIII abdicated before he was crowned, leaving the magazine with an expensive nightmare on its hands. |
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 | King Edward VIII(L) and King George VI(R). The latter unexpectedly became King after his brother abdicated. Image used with permission | Unwilling to waste all the hard work and cost of some lavish illustrations, the editors instead superimposed the face of George VI over the existing pictures of the body and ceremonial robes of Edward VIII.
Lisa Barnard, chief executive of the group which holds the magazine’s archive, says the records show a payment of £21 for “alteration to the face” as the new King was depicted with the body of his brother. |
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 | Prince Albert, later King George VI(L) and Prince Edward, later King Edward VIII in around 1900. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty | If not quite a Photoshop swap, she says it was an unusual case of “portrait swap”. Did anyone mind? Apparently not, as the editor went on to get a knighthood. | |
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