Our Fair Lady: Princess of Wales’s selfless display was the tonic that Britain needed

Two words: Thank you. Thank you Princess of Wales for being an absolute trouper and attending Trooping the Colour on a cold, grey day when lesser mortals with your illness would have stayed home, tucked up in their jim-jams. Thank you for sacrificing the privacy that is so much needed to get you back to full health. Thank you for such a show of support for the King, who is not a well man, on his official birthday, and for giving a boost to the wider Royal family – which has sorely lacked star power since you withdrew from public life in January to have major surgery. Thank you for channelling the gamine beauty of Audrey Hepburn in that wow of a white dress with a jaunty, outsize, stripy black-and white bow. You are Our Fair Lady.

The weather was dreadful. Juneuary they’re calling it. “A little damp underfoot,“ conceded Clare Balding with consummate English understatement. Damp? Ducks could have swum in the puddles on Horse Guards Parade. Balding was anchoring the event for the BBC with gale-force enthusiasm and contagious admiration for the guardsmen, the horses and all their hard work.

Sitting exposed on a dais were our poor King and Queen; you hoped they’d worn their thermals.

The only sunshine came from the golden glow of the brass instruments, the braid on the uniforms and, above all, from Kate and the three children, smiling and waving in their glass coach. Inevitably, all eyes were upon the Princess after her statement on Friday that, although she still had “good days and bad days” and was “not out of the woods yet”, she would be making her first public appearance since revealing she had cancer.

Many in the large crowd, and millions of us watching at home, will have felt emotional as we watched her alight from the carriage, acutely aware of all the things she is having to balance right now; the clarion call of duty, the gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and, above all, reassuring her darling children. It looked like a happy family outing for George, Charlotte (enchanting in a spiffy sailor suit) and Louis with Mummy there beside them and Daddy riding just in front with great-uncle Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, and a swashbuckling Princess Royal. (How poignant and fitting that indefatigable Anne is now our best reminder of her beloved late mother.) The band was back together.

Kate briefly patted her stomach, whether to smooth her dress after being seated on the journey from the Palace or a reflex to protect herself after recent surgery it was hard to tell. Illness has definitely taken its toll. More slender and with heavier make-up than usual, the 42-year-old Princess appeared brighter than she probably felt. How brave to face the gaze of the world when your body is in the business of betraying you.

But it was wonderful just to have her there. As it was to see her youngest yawning at the height of the ceremony. Let’s face it, no national occasion is complete without Prince Louis pulling a “how long is this going on?” face.

One guardsman highlighted the “symbolic weight we carry in the Colour as we march it past the King”. He was talking about ritual and pageantry that is centuries old, but it sounded like the reason our poorly princess had made the effort to be there. Her presence carries a symbolic weight. With our beloved late monarch having left a QE2-shaped hole in the national picture, we can’t afford many more gaps.

“We have to be seen to be believed,” our late Queen insisted, always showing up, unto the very last day of her life. Catherine has adopted the stoical attitude of her husband’s grandmother. You just know she understands that this is an anxious time, not just for her personally, but for the Royals as a whole. Two members of the “firm” have cancer. Proof that the show goes on is vital.

We would have understood if Kate had chosen to start with something smaller and more low-key to get back into the swing of things. But what a triumph on the grand scale this was. A splendid riposte to all the trolls who have cruelly hounded the Princess of Wales, demanding she return to work before she was ready, denying her the convalescence she deserves.

Particular spite has come from the Sussex camp; Meghan and Harry’s acolytes. How will the competitive sulkers in Montecito respond to a beaming Kate back on the front pages? Just as the Prince and Princess were arriving at Horseguards, it emerged, like clockwork, that Meghan had released a second jam.

On the journey back to the Palace, the pewter skies opened and disgorged their contents. “And the rain actually tips down with strong wind as well, thankfully at the end of proceedings,” said Claire Balding, finally forced to admit we weren’t enjoying a summer’s day.

The BBC cameras appeared to be filming beneath the ocean and the windows of the Waleses’ carriage steamed up. Not one to be deterred from waving at her public, Princess Charlotte wiped them clear with the palms of her hands; her mother’s gorgeous smile was revealed once more. Now you see her, now you don’t.

The Mall was a sea of brollies making for the Palace; it looked like an advancing Roman army with umbrellas for shields. More than one Royal trouper was on parade. King Charles took the salute in the deluge, at no small risk to his health, recalling the sodden stoicism of his late papa, Prince Philip, during the unintentionally aquatic Diamond Jubilee.

Despite the weather, the traditional balcony moment did not disappoint. Kate lit up, clearly sharing in the delight of her small trio as the planes zoomed overhead. William looked a bit concerned, perhaps (“Should she really be doing this?”), but nonetheless stood proud beside his frail but radiant wife. “The Red Arrows, they’re in a blue sky,” said Balding and it was true, the sun had just broken through as if to break a dark spell cast on our nation, as if to say everything was OK. “There are good days and bad days,” as the Princess said.

God knows what it cost her to put on that impeccable, elegant display, to make the last thing she felt like doing the first thing to do, but I hope it was a good day for her because it certainly was for us. When Catherine walked back onto the national stage, the clouds parted and all heaven broke loose. I hope she’s back at home now putting her feet up with a nice cup of tea. Thank you. Thank you.