“Kate Middleton Takes on New Royal Responsibilities: A Fresh Chapter for the Duchess”…read more

In August, Will Warr, a filmmaker who cut his teeth working with brands like Red Bull and Puma, was hired on a confidential assignment to go to Anmer Hall near England’s Norfolk coast to film Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Kate Middleton, the most popular member of Britain’s royal family, had hardly been seen or heard from for nearly a year.

Six months earlier, she had appeared in a video looking gaunt, wearing jeans and a striped sweater on a bench on the grounds of her home in Windsor.

During a two-minute clip produced by the BBC, she broke the news that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

The stripped-back announcement was powerful and raw.

Overnight, it ended spiraling social-media speculation about her whereabouts and tamed an information-hungry tabloid media.

It also reaffirmed to the British public all that they appreciated about Kate, a dignified yet relatable royal who put duty and family first.