We don't pass on rumours, but if we did, there would be plenty to choose from. If you were browsing the Internet last week, you may have come across an urgent plea for information about the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, formally known as Catherine, Princess of Wales. The British princess has not been seen since Christmas Day, when she attended a church service in Norfolk with her husband, Prince William, and their three children. People demanded to know: Where is Kate? When no response came, they made memes and bad jokes.
The answer to the question “Where is Kate?” It's been made very clear. On January 17, Kensington Palace announced that she had entered a London clinic for “abdominal surgery” and would remain there for up to two weeks before continuing her recovery at home. “Based on current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to her public duties until after Easter,” the short statement read. It is worth noting that there were no other details about Kate's condition. The rest of the statement reads like a slightly sour note from the impeccably polite headmistress. “The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate. She hopes the public understands her desire to maintain as much normalcy for her children as possible; and her desire for her personal medical information to remain private.” He added that the Palace would only provide updates “when there is important new information that can be Share it.” There are no questions at this time, please!
In the absence of “important new information,” the public invented some of it. Last week, after William pulled out of a memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine II of Greece, for personal reasons, speculation erupted. On X (formerly Twitter), people joked that Kate hadn't been seen in weeks because she was producing disastrous curtain bangs. They wondered if she had gotten lost at Willy's Chocolate Experience, a comical Willy Wonka-themed event that went wrong in Glasgow last month. There have been theories about the Brazilian Butt Lift, or BBL, taking a long time to recover. (On the Internet, all roads lead to BBL) The rumors escalated to a bizarre extent. Did you pull “Gone Girl” or did you run away for a nomadic life? “Not a single Banksy has appeared since Kate Middleton disappeared. Coincidence?” Read one post.
On Monday, things got worse. TMZ posted what appears to be the first photo of Kate since her surgery, a grainy photo showing the princess and her mother, Carole Middleton, in a car. Kate sits upright in the passenger seat while her mother drives the car. She wears sunglasses, and her face, calmly set in a neutral expression, is cast in shadow. The photo was clearly taken from a distance, and was distributed by celebrity news agency Backgrid. When this message appeared, most British media refused to publish it. The Americans had no such doubts. Almost immediately, people started posting about the authenticity of the photo. “Was this photo of Kate Middleton made of thousands of photos of Kate Middleton?” asked comedian Laurie Kilmartin on X. Writer Sophie Ross tweeted: “Kate Middleton spotted for the first time since her hospital stint was reported,” above an infamous photo of Lindsay Lohan during her party stint. A meme circulating of Michael Jackson with dark shadows in the back of a car. Some users claimed that the woman in the photo couldn't be Kate because she was missing a mole or two, or because her nose looked different. Maybe it was her sister, Pippa? Or a wax figure from Madame Tussauds?
It's important to remember in the midst of this frenzy that everything the palace said would happen regarding Kate's surgery has happened. The princess returned home on January 29, nearly two weeks after being hospitalized, just as the palace said she would. She has stayed home to recover since then, just as the palace said she would. At the time of her surgery, she announced that she would not return to public service until “after Easter.” Easter is still a few weeks away. You could be forgiven for finding the confusion surrounding its absence puzzling. “It was a little weird,” Elizabeth Holmes, a Los Angeles-based journalist who writes the newsletter So Many Thoughts and has published a book on royal style, told me. “Last week I heard from people in my life who don't follow the royals and aren't familiar with this stuff. People are saying, 'Wait, where's Kate?' What's going on here?' I told her: Well, I did it surgery.' “
The feverish speculation about Kate's health falls in the middle of a bleak winter for the House of Windsor. Last month, the palace announced that King Charles III would undergo treatment for an unspecified type of cancer. One of the family members, Sarah, Duchess of York, revealed that she had been diagnosed with malignant skin cancer. However, the King made sure to make an appearance abroad – he was seen attending church at Sandringham and meeting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – while the Princess did not. Kate's absence is all the more notable because of how successful and consistent she has been as a working royal over the years. Commentators pointed out that she appeared on the steps of St. Mary's Hospital for photographers less than seven hours after Prince Louis was born. “For the past thirteen years we have been seeing this woman regularly, so the fact that we have not seen her now is noteworthy,” Holmes told me. “I think this speaks to her importance within the royal family.”
How much privacy can royalty expect these days? With fewer working royals, the importance of visibility is more important than ever. Sociology lecturer Laura Clancy, whose work at Lancaster University revolves around media and property, has argued that when the sovereign no longer rules by divine right, “media culture becomes the primary site for reproducing public consent to the power of property.” Being seen performing public duties – cutting the ribbon, shaking hands – is a matter of survival for the Crown. Historically, the royal family has maintained a strict control over dealings with the public. Clancy told me that the British press had “a sort of reciprocal relationship” with the monarchy. “Royal correspondents, in particular, their entire job depends on a certain level of access,” she said. They want to stay inside the fold. But the same can't be said for people online, who never expected to receive an invitation to a garden party anyway. Clancy also sees the current discourse around the monarchy as a kind of “post-Harry and Meghan mood.” “After everything they said about the monarchy, there is definitely a lot more criticism than ever before,” she said. It did not escape notice, for example, that the princess enjoyed a level of privacy from the British press that did not extend to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Clancy told me that the palace's communications strategy regarding Kate's surgery “would have worked 50 years ago.” “But now, when news is so instantaneous and moving so quickly, I don’t think that model works anymore.” But she did not find the palace's response very surprising. “I saw some comments saying, ‘This is really weird. Why didn't they release more information? Why don't they do that? It's really suspicious. “Actually, I don’t think so,” she said. “It's very much in line with what they normally do; It's just that people react differently. It's business as usual for them. It's not going the way it usually does.” ♦
