Palace knows it has lost control over Princess of Wales narrative

The British tabloids, which demurred at running a paparazzi photograph of the Princess in a car with her mother just two weeks ago, have run front-page photographs of her outing to the farm shop.

Even the BBC has shown the pictures, using the newspaper front pages to discuss it.

There are only so many times palace sources can repeat frustrated pleas for privacy and calm. They have lamented the “madness of social media” behind the scenes, repeating the Princess’s own request for privacy ad nauseam.

Not long ago, that would have been enough to rein things in.

But pleas for decency rely on people being decent. In the online post-truth era, not to mention the febrile narrative of the post-Megxit, post-Spare, post-Queen Elizabeth II era, that no longer always applies.

There is a school of thought that says the furore has done the Princess a favour. A video from a named member of the public, who has already spoken out to quash conspiracy theories, shows her looking happy, back on her feet after surgery and in conversation with her husband.

The Windsor Farm Shop is very close to their house, where locals either barely bat an eyelid at seeing the Waleses drop in or are too self-consciously polite to be seen to do so.

So far so normal.

The Sun, which along with TMZ won a bidding war for the video, explained the motive for publishing it thus: “We are showing the images today in a bid to end weeks of online speculation which has seen wild conspiracy theories about Kate spread unchecked.”

Prince William and Kate knew they would be seen there, royal watchers have claimed, speculating their staff should be “pleased” or at least “relieved” that the Princess has finally been seen in such an ordinary way without the signs of paparazzi in pursuit.

Aides have stopped short of issuing an on-record statement tackling things head-on.

The printing of the farm shop photograph, said Peter Hunt, the BBC’s former royal correspondent, was a “powerful reminder of the symbiotic relationship enjoyed by the royals and the media”.

“A clear breach of privacy,” he claimed. “Kensington Palace is silent.”

Behind the scenes, Kensington Palace is in transition, with two new private secretaries settling in just as their bosses are living through a crisis.

With former and current advisers on hand to help, the team is gearing up for an “after Easter” return to the fray on the Princess’s terms, as and when she feels well enough.

There has been no more pressing moment to plan: not just the logistics of her return but to rethink a communications strategy fit for the internet generation.

Just as the Royal family had to adapt to the advent of radio and television, and then the explosion of celebrity paparazzi culture in the 1980s and 1990s, a new approach is needed in the age of social media. Like it or not, it’s not going anywhere.