Princess Kate conspiracy theories are everywhere – and the Royals are partly to blame

Kate Middleton pictured before her abdominal surgery in January (Picture: GETTY)

It is 90-odd years since the world discovered the then Prince of Wales, soon to be King Edward VIII, had scandalously fallen in love with an American divorcee.

Apart, that is, from the ordinary Brits who had to wait: foreign press had been reporting on the story for 10 months before domestic media printed anything. 

There were echoes of those times this week when the first pictures of Kate, the Princess of Wales, allegedly appeared on an American website, following abdominal surgery that she underwent in January.  

But again, not in the British media.   

A purdah was put on printing the photos in Britain because Kate is still recovering – the British media adheres to the Editors’ Code of Practice, which outlines specific protections around matters of physical and mental health. 

Except, we now live in a digital age. We no longer need to depend on friends to laboriously send clippings (as royal fans did in 1936).  

Anyone keen to see a photo said to be of Kate in the passenger seat of a car driven by her mother Carole could do so at the click of a button.  

In fact, these images were hard to avoid on social media – along with the speculation about Kate’s health that has now reached fever pitch after weeks of silence from official sources at Kensington Palace.

You’ve probably seen the rumours and the memes. It seems everything you can imagine has been speculated on, and the behaviour of the royals frankly doesn’t help.  

Prince William pulled out of a memorial service for King Constantine of Greece – his godfather who he was said to be ‘very close’ to – last Tuesday, citing ‘personal reasons’. His actions only added to the conspiracy mill, even if the Palace insisted the princess was still recovering well.  

Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales at a ceremony for a foreign dignitary in November 2023 (Picture: Chris Jackson Provider/AP)

As did the announcement by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that Kate was due to be at the Trooping of the Colour in June, which Kensington Palace then refused to confirm. 

So what is going on? 

Kate emerged as the most popular member of the royal family in a 2023 Ipsos survey – an amazing feat for someone technically born ‘a commoner’. 

Outfits she wears instantly sell out and she’s managed to bring a human touch to an often cold-seeming institution while looking divinely beautiful as she does it.  

The Palace has a policy of keeping quiet on the personal lives of the Royal Family – and of course, Kate doesn’t deserve this speculation, nor owe us hourly dispatches on the exact details of her recovery.

Yet at the same time, the public does need to have one or two more updates.

Confusion over whether Kate would be attending Trooping the Colour only added to speculation (Picture: WireImage)

After William pulled out of the memorial service, it is no wonder that people immediately suspected the worst and that something was awry with the Princess of Wales. 

Yet the statement from a royal spokesperson, in response to questions over whether this had anything to do with Kate’s health read, at least to me, as terse, almost condescending:  

‘Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’s recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.’ They further stated that Kate continues to be ‘doing well’ but no other information was provided. 

It is not just rumours that fill the silence, but fear, too. 

With King Charles having been diagnosed with cancer, this is a nervous time for people who care about the monarchy. Charles may have always hoped for a slimmed-down monarchy but suddenly it looks worryingly skeletal.  

King Charles III waves to well-wishers on December 25, 2023 (Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

The country is already in a time of huge flux and anger on our streets. The monarchy is meant to be there as a symbol of stability but even it seems completely shaken, chaotic.  

Kate was last seen in public on Christmas Day 2023. We know that she had ‘planned abdominal surgery’ in January and that she is due back at work at Easter.  

But while we have an idea about the King’s issues and have seen him looking as well as could be expected, there has been nothing from Kate. William has been tight-lipped about how she, potentially our future Queen, is doing.  

There needs to be a little more explanation, some more updates – it is possible to do that while maintaining the Princess’s privacy – with perhaps a statement attributed to her thanking well wishers or a photo of her at home convalescing. 

Royal illnesses in the past have been dealt with secretly – for example we didn’t see much of Prince Philip or the Queen Mother’s final months – but while these were people who had lived to a ripe old age, Kate is a woman in the prime of her life. 

This media blackout isn’t feasible in the modern age when everyone has a camera and a million conspiracy theories at their fingertips.

And, yes, perhaps we do demand too much from our royals and what they give us. I’m thinking of the smiling photos new royal mums give us on the hospital doorsteps sometimes just hours after giving birth. 

But at the same time, the royals and the nation have a delicate relationship; we need them to show us a bit about them and in return we reward them with relatively high public popularity and pay for them.  

In the days before the internet and televisions, it was harder for royals who had to go around the country by horseback to show their faces; today all we need is a message, a photo, or something to tell us that we can stop worrying.  

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.