Richard Kay: The royals are facing their greatest modern challenge but they WILL survive this

He will need every bit of his strength, every last ounce of resilience. Never have the blows come quite so hard and quite so fast. First his father now his wife.

As all those close to Prince William acknowledge, he has never ducked a challenge, nor failed to face adversity as he so memorably demonstrated as a 15-year-old schoolboy when the gaze of the world descended on him after the death of Princess Diana.

But the health crisis afflicting his wife is as great a trial as the loss of his mother, possibly greater. For William the father, his first instincts will be for the welfare of his three children with whom he and Kate have had to share the devastating news.

Consolation may be hard to find but it will be there from the big-hearted people of these islands and beyond who will offer nothing but sympathy and a willingness to share his burden.

As they have shown on countless occasions both at home and abroad William and Kate are a team, a couple who value the opinion of each other above others. No issue presents itself without William asking, ‘What does the princess think?’ or ‘I’d better ask Kate about it.’

It has been that way since before they even married, with the prince recognising that the middle class girl he met at St Andrews University often had practical answers to the most complex of matters.

As the shock of last night’s news sank in and messages of commiseration poured into Kensington Palace, another serious concern was being raised: just what does Kate’s long term illness mean for the royal family and its ability to survive what may become its gravest crisis since the Abdication?

For the simple fact is the absence of both the Princess of Wales and the King represents a supercharged shock to the royal system. Charles and Kate are by some distance the most charismatic members of the family – the King in his genial reliability, Kate in her beauty and compassion.

Despite the palace’s appeal for restraint when it comes to speculation about the gravity of Kate’s cancer, it is a very natural and human reaction.

Her perfectly judged video-statement may go some way to dispel some of those fears, but concern about the well-being of the House of Windsor and its resilience in the face of these unprecedented factors are certain to be questioned.

Right now these are unstable times for a Royal Family stripped of its star performers – and stability goes to its very core. But if history teaches us one thing about the monarchy, it is has a capacity to overcome the most testing of obstacles. It has survived revolution, civil war and the darkest of threats.

Even 30 years ago, the then Prince of Wales was written off as a future monarch because of the collapse of his first marriage. But he never lost faith in the British sense of fair play, and came through the crisis to take his rightful place on the throne alongside the very woman who was said to have imperilled it in the first place, his beloved wife Camilla.

Now as uncertainty swirls around the monarchy once again, it is Queen Camilla who will be so vital to its survival. She will lead what looks increasingly like a make do and mend line up of royal cousins and second cousins and legitimate questions will be asked about whether this reduced pecking order will cope.

The experience of the past few weeks has shown just how vulnerable the family has become and the public’s reaction has been one of disquiet. Nothing illustrated that unease more than the sight of the disgraced Prince Andrew leading the royals into the Windsor memorial service for ex-King Constantine of Greece.

It triggered world-wide consternation, largely because of the unexplained absence of Prince William, the late King’s godson. Yesterday’s announcement now makes clear why the prince had to stay away - because of his wife’s cancer diagnosis.

In the face of internet conspiracy theorists and laptop detectives who mocked the Mother’s Day photograph designed to head off this cruel gossip, William emerges as a remarkably stoic and impressive figure.

Some will doubtless suggest that Prince Harry should heed this emergency and make haste for British shores, settle his differences with William and resume his place as a prominent working royal. At the moment that seems as unlikely as it will probably be unwelcome.

William may one day settle his differences with his brother, but right now it is not a priority.

Biographers will point to the way the then Princess Elizabeth stepped up when her father King George VI was fighting cancer in the 1940s and 50s.

Although we have no exact details of the King’s condition - it is thought he is receiving a course of chemo and immunotherapy – medical progress has come on in leaps and bounds in the intervening seven decades.

Where once cancer was a life sentence, now outcomes are considerably better. And while the precise nature of Kate’s illness is similarly unknown, she is a strong and supremely fit woman.

If William cannot step into his father’s shoes — and no one will begrudge him if he does not — then there is another redoubtable figure who will. His aunt and Charles’s devoted sister Princess Anne.

It is, then, in the hands of Anne and the other lesser royals such as Prince Edward and his wife Sophie to ensure royalty defeats this twin health crisis and remains central to British life. When circumstance permits, William will be there too.

For decades under the late Queen Elizabeth the monarchy, dutiful and dignified, was taken for granted. Blessed by her remarkable years of good health, the blips on her watch were comparatively minor.

Yet in the space of just over 18 months since her death in September 2022, the institution has been shaken to its foundations and the family itself become visibly threadbare. The Harry saga and Prince Andrew scandal have added to this sense of decay.

Adapting to circumstances has for years been the secret to the Royal Family’s longevity, relevance and its success. And the clarity and openness of Kate’s remarkable statement can only help. Understanding will also help to shut down the wicked rumour-mongers, at least for now.

We may be in the most unsettling of times but the monarchy earned our undying thanks for the manner in which it steered Britain through the darkest days of the Second World War. Now as the royals face their greatest modern challenge, they have every right to expect that we will give them our support.