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At last, a little daylight is let in upon the magic.

A smiling Princess of Wales is spotted – and filmed – looking happy and healthy while out on a shopping trip with William near their Windsor home.

So much for the daft doubters.

For once, a couple who like to guard their privacy, didn’t seem to mind being pictured – by a member of the public on their iPhone who had spotted them in the bread aisle at the Windsor Farm Shop.

The Mother's Day portrait that was edited by the Princess of Wales to make the perfect family shot

The Mother’s Day portrait that was edited by the Princess of Wales to make the perfect family shot

Will this demonstrably authentic sighting silence the bonkers conspiracy theorists?Or the weird wearers of ‘Free Kate’ T-shirts (a strange nod to the strict US legal regime that once constrained pop star Britney Spears)?

Not completely. This is the internet, after all.

But the new video footage will go a long way towards hauling the national conversation back on to the rails of sanity.

I have sympathy for the Waleses, who have steadfastly refused to issue updates on Kate’s health.

Their Kensington Palace press office announced that she has undergone abdominal surgery and is unlikely to be back on royal duty until after Easter. Nothing more.

Some things are surely private, you might think. Why feed the beast?

Kate alongside William leaving Windsor Castle just hours after she apologised for digitally editing the Mother’s Day photo

Kate alongside William leaving Windsor Castle just hours after she apologised for digitally editing the Mother’s Day photo

Besides, wasn’t it the great constitutional writer Walter Bagehot who warned about keeping the ‘magic’ of royalty safe from intrusive daylight?

If Kensington Palace has been understandably reticent, however, it has also been maladroit.

The botched handling of the Waleses’ privacy helped create a media storm with its own global momentum.

Which is why I’m glad that, a little late in the day, William and Kate appear to have heeded the wise words of the late Queen Elizabeth: that she must be seen to be believed.

Kate had not been seen since Christmas Day at church in Sandringham.

The context is important here, of course.

Driven by the loss of his mother, Diana, William’s dance with the media has been long and fraught. Who could blame him for mounting a fierce guard over his young family and its privacy?

In contrast, the King has continued with official duties despite his cancer treatment, issuing pictures and video footage along the way.

Yet most people have understood the Wales’s reasons for staying quiet.

What they did not understand was William’s sudden and unexpected decision to absent himself from last month’s memorial service for King Constantine II at St George’s Chapel.

The Prince pulled out at extremely short notice even though Constantine had been his Godfather and William was due to give a reading.

The late Queen Elizabeth would have never abandoned an engagement so abruptly. It is really not the sort of behaviour we expect from the Royal Family.

Elizabeth’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, showed an admirable sense of duty by attending that same memorial service despite the death of his son-in-law Thomas Kingston just a few days earlier.

So, why did William go missing?

All we got was silence. And this, I believe, is what first opened the floodgates of conjecture about Kate – and allowed a series of wicked lies to breed online.

The Waleses will survive all this. Despite the occasional stumble, they have proved as resilient as their popularity.

William and Kate are the stars of the Royal Family now and will be in the future.

After a series of own-goals, there is less cause for confidence elsewhere, however. This has not been the British Monarchy’s finest hour.

Take the Mother’s Day portrait.

Why didn’t the Waleses make proper use of Andrew Parsons, the seasoned professional photographer who is already working alongside them?

Tasked with chronicling the lives of William and Kate, Parsons’s mission is to create an archive not just for the present, but for history.

It beggars belief that they should have plumped for a photoshopped DIY snap on Mother’s Day.

Again, the contrast with King Charles is clear.

Like his late mother, the King has a keen eye for the minutest of details. He insists upon perfection when it comes to the historic record.

Unhappy with a series of portraits in different military regalia taken recently, he insisted that they be completely re-shot by a renowned studio photographer.

It cost a pretty penny. But for the King, the message was clear: haste cannot be tolerated.

Every image, every piece of information released must be scrutinised in detail beforehand.

The Mother’s Day portrait, taken by William, crossed the line. Yet it was issued as an official photograph for distribution by Kensington Palace officials.

The Firm attending the thanksgiving service at Windsor Castle for the late King Constantine of Greece which Prince William pulled out of for personal reasons

The Firm attending the thanksgiving service at Windsor Castle for the late King Constantine of Greece which Prince William pulled out of for personal reasons

Then, somebody – and not a recuperating Kate – should have taken responsibility.

Kensington Palace should have issued an immediate apology and issued the original, instead of throwing Kate under the bus.

In the past few days, I’ve heard Buckingham Palace officials say that this is a ‘Kensington Palace Problem’.

Wrong!

When the world starts comparing the British Monarchy with the North Korean newswire, then it is a Royal Problem.

And one the entire institution needs to address.

Perhaps it is time to go back to the future in the way that royal communications are handled.

When I started covering this beat in the early 1990s, there was just one Buckingham Palace Press Secretary who reported directly to the Monarch.

There was no rival operation for the Prince of Wales.

The Royal Press Secretary was in charge. Nothing went out unless it was cleared through him.

He had a deputy and a number of Assistant Press Secretaries assigned to different members of the royal family.

This was one team with one, unified approach – something we have sorely missed in recent weeks.

No one is pretending it is easy. It requires a careful dance involving privacy, visibility and authenticity.

But it must be firmly led with tact, experience and skill.

I, for one, was delighted to see the Princess out and about looking both happy and healthy – walking briskly, carrying her own bags. I believe the furore is now drawing to a close.

But there are lessons in all this.

In an era where technology blurs the lines of truth, the royal brand must remain untainted. It must be genuine.

In authenticity lies the kingdom’s trust; a bond once broken, becomes a chasm hard to bridge.

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This post first appeared on Daily mail

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