Cynics have suggested everything from body doubles to AI fakes (Picture: Kid SO)
With every new update in the story of the Princess of Wales’s recovery from abdominal surgery comes a new round of conspiracy theories.
That apparently doesn’t stop being true even when the development in question is a video of Kate chatting and smiling with Prince William while out and about in Windsor.
Royal fans will have been reassured by the clip, which – though brief – appears to show the Princess looking healthy and relaxed.
But the cynics on social media quickly denounced the images as fake and accused the couple of sending out body doubles or using AI to pull the wool over our eyes.
Kate Middleton lookalike Heidi Agan, 34, from Cheslyn Hay (Picture: Darren Quinton/BPM Media)
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu posted on X: ‘Wait….who the hell is that with Prince William? Are you all thinking what I’m thinking or do I need to go to Specsavers?’
Another user going by the name Jesus Girl Jen replied to several tweets carrying the images, obtained by The Sun, saying in one: ‘That’s not her. The internet already used their collective skills to figure out the truth and this is not the truth.’
A scroll through social media appears to reveal that such collective skill amounts to not much more than a screengrab which may have been badly enhanced using AI and bears no resemblance to the grainy footage at all.
Posting the dubious grab alongside a photo of the Princess on an official engagement, Dean Anderson wrote: ‘Their doubles are getting worse and worse. That’s not Kate.’
Catherine, Princess of Wales, pictured arriving at the Shaping Us National Symposium at the Design Museum last November (Picture: Getty)
However, some royal watchers came out in support of the couple and sought to push back against anyone doubting the clip is genuine.
Molly Elizabeth wrote: ‘If you really don’t think this is Kate then you need to go to Specsavers … and probably go touch some grass.’
Kayla Adams posted: ‘I don’t usually post photos that are taken outside public events, but here you go ladies and gentlemen. The Prince and Princess of Wales out at a local farm shop near their home as reported this weekend. Can the Kate Middleton conspiracies settle down please.’
RoyallyBelle added: ‘Woman who’s had major surgery, clearly lost weight and is dressed in workout gear with no makeup looks different to when she’s fully glammed up at royal events. What a shocker! Anyone with half a braincell can see it’s very clearly Kate.’
In the video the princess can be seen with her hair down, wearing a black jacket and leggings, chatting with William and carrying a large white bag.
The Windsor Farm Shop is a short drive from their Adelaide Cottage home in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
People flock to the shop, which was the idea of the late Duke of Edinburgh, to buy locally sourced goods and produce from the royal estates.
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Nelson Silva, who saw the royal couple, told TMZ: ‘I noticed a couple choosing loaves of bread and the woman turned her face and I felt like I had seen the face before. It was familiar.
‘I went to my car and as they came out of the shop I just filmed them. I think they walked out through a gate out of the grounds. They just vanished and I didn’t see a car.
‘Kate looked happy and relaxed. They look happy just to be able to go to a shop and mingle. Kate looked relieved, like it was a success going to a shop. It felt natural.’
The royal couple also spent Sunday morning watching Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis taking part in a sporting event, according to The Sun.
Kate’s absence from public life, following abdominal surgery on January 16, has led to wild conspiracy theories on social media about her whereabouts and health.
Details of her condition have not been disclosed but Kensington Palace previously said it was not cancer-related and that Kate wished her personal medical information to remain private.
The online speculation increased after irregularities were spotted in a Mother’s Day photograph of Kate and her children (Picture: Kensington Palace)
The online speculation increased after irregularities were spotted in a Mother’s Day photograph of Kate and her children, which led to the princess admitting to ‘editing’ the image and apologising for any ‘confusion’ caused.
The future Queen has been photographed in public twice since her operation.
In a picture published on March 4, she was a front-seat passenger in a car driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, in the Windsor area.
She was also spotted sitting next to William in a chauffeur-driven car last Monday, when he attended the Commonwealth Day service in London and she was driven to a private appointment.
It was reported at the weekend that Kate may speak about her health during public engagements which are not expected to resume until after Easter.
The Sunday Times reported a source as saying: ‘They are at their most open when out interacting with members of the public and I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements. If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it.’
William and Kate’s children attend Lambrook School in Berkshire, which will start its summer term on April 17.
Kate is expected to resume official engagements after this date.
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