Catherine Reappears, in White

On Saturday morning Catherine, Princess of Wales, tiptoed back onto the public stage for the first time since announcing her cancer diagnosis this year in her signature color-coordinated way, joining the rest of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the traditional finale flyover of King Charles’ birthday parade. She wore a white knee-length Jenny Packham dress with a black-and-white striped belt and a jaunty bow at the neck, topped off with a Philip Treacy hat, angled just so.

The nautical theme was reflected in the navy dress with a sailor collar and white trim worn by Princess Charlotte (who also wore white shoes to go with her mother), along with the matching double-breasted navy suits with their gold buttons, white shirts and bright blue ties of Princes George and Louis, all of which made a neat Union Jack trio with William’s bright red military uniform — which in turn matched that of Charles and Prince Edward.

As a family unit, on the balcony, it created the image of a tightly controlled, unmistakably harmonic, unified front for a photo op set to go ’round the country. Nothing anxiety-provoking to look at here, the picture seemed to say. It’s business as usual. Everything’s going to be fine.

It was a trademark bit of image-making on the part of the princess, who is still in the process of recovery. Catherine has always been finely attuned to the attention paid to what she wears as part of a family whose job it is to symbolize, rather than speak, and the communications opportunities embedded therein. Since the beginning of her marriage, she has used her clothes to signify a neat compromise between tradition and modernization. Her wardrobe seems often geared to telegraph a respectful sensitivity to what’s next, rather than, say, a royal in a gilded bubble, whether it’s mixing high street brands with high fashion, upcycling her gown multiple times, renting an evening dress or supporting British designers.

There’s no question she would be aware of the obsessive attention paid to her reappearance, especially given the somewhat vague information imparted about her condition (not to mention that of the king, who was also diagnosed with cancer), the rampant, often unhinged speculation her initial absence provoked, and the way her presence could be used to reassure — or not — a watching public. One still reeling from the departure of Prince Harry and Meghan and the shaming of Prince Andrew, nervous about the future of the monarchy that remains, and about to experience its own electoral upheaval. It was not a time to just throw on any old thing.