Wild Royal Family conspiracy theories were not on my 2024 bingo board .
If you’re not as chronically online as me you might be wondering why the hell everyone is talking about Princess Catherine of Wales. And also why everyone is questioning and joking about where she is.
Well if you want to know, you’re in luck! I wrote up a timeline of almost everything that has happened over the last few months that has essentially created a narrative, spurred by social media, that the Royal Family hasn’t had in decades and is probably not too happy with.
Dec. 25, 2023: Kate attends a Christmas morning church service in Sandringham, Norfolk, along with the rest of the entire Royal Family — includingKing Charlesand Queen Camilla. This would be Kate’s last public appearance.
Dec. 28, 2023:Peoplemagazine publishes an article about Kate and William and how they had “finalized many of their plans for the first part of the coming year,” which included a trip to Rome, Italy.
January 17: Kensington Palace releases a statement that Kate had been admitted to The London Clinic for a “planned abdominal surgery” and that it had been “successful.” It also stated she’d remain there for the next 10 to 14 days and “she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.” (So she wouldn’t be seen doing any public royal duties until after March 31).
A statement from Kensington Palacepic.twitter.com/6h3BCrqj5L
The Kensington Palace statement went on to say that they’d “only provide updates on Her Royal Highness' progress when there is significant new information to share.” The long recovery time along with the vagueness of the statement and no real information as to why Kate had to have a surgery led to somepeople on social mediato question what was going on.
January 18: William is seen arriving tovisitKate in the hospital. This is also the only publicly documented visit there is of him going to visit her there. There are also no reports of her kids or her family coming to visit — this isn’t to say that they couldn’t have used a private entrance and the Palace also chose not to report it.
January 26: King Charles isadmittedinto The London Clinic in order to get a “corrective procedure” for an enlarged prostate. It’s also reported that the king visited with Kate after he arrived there.
January 28: Spanish journalistConcha Callejaalleges on the Spanish talk showFiestathat close Royal sources to her told her that Kate had life-threatening complications after her surgery and that “the decision was to put her in an induced coma” and that “they had to intubate her.” Concha alsoclaimsthat previously Kate had also been admitted into the hospital on December 28 and she was there forseveral days.
People online realized that a Royalist Twitter account posted on December 28 a video of a convoy led by the police leaving Sandringham (where the Royal Family was spending their Christmas holiday). The accountclaimsthis video was taken at 6:30 p.m. that evening. Now it’s important to note there is no way to confirm that this video clip A.) has anything to do with anyone in the Royal Family, and. B.) that it was actually filmed on that date.
I hope all is well at Sandringham . My spy in Marylebone just saw this convoy channelise in the general counseling of King Edward VII ’s Hospital at eight thirty this eve … pic.twitter.com / tOcVsP3rFU
January 29: Kensington Palace releases a statement saying that Kate has left the hospital and would be recovering at home. There are no photos of her leaving the hospital.
A statement from Kensington Palacepic.twitter.com/DW6BOHuuRJ
Also on January 29: King Charles is photographed alongside Queen Camillaleavingthe hospital following a three-day stay.
February 1: Palace sources tellthe Times Of Londonthat Concha Calleja’s claims of Kate being placed in a coma were false and are “total nonsense” and “totally made-up.” And that she had made no attempt to “fact-check anything.” The Palace alsodeniedthat Kate had been previously hospitalized back on December 28.
February 5: Buckingham Palaceannouncesthat King Charles was diagnosed with cancer — which was discovered during his “corrective procedure” for his enlarged prostate. They do not say what type of cancer he has, just that it’s not prostate cancer. He also cancels all public engagements while he gets treatments.
February 7: WilliamattendsLondon’s Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner, his first royal duty since Kate was hospitalized for her abdominal surgery.
February 20: William releases a statement about the Israel-Hamas War. Along with it being a rare statement from a royal, since they’re required to bepolitically neutral,people noticedthat the statement only came from The Prince of Wales and not The Prince and Princess Wales.
A argument from The Prince of Walespic.twitter.com/LV2jMx75DC
February 27: At the last minute, Williambacked outof attending the memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece. Kensington Palace only says he was unable to attend due to a “personal matter.”
February 27–28: Twitter startsgoing truly wildwith thousands of memes and conspiracy theories about where Kate is — which was fueled by William backing out of his godfather’s memorial service. Similarly, folks on TikTok start putting upvideosasking where Kate is.
February 29: No longer being able to ignore all the memes and conspiracy theories that were going viral all over social media, a rep for Kate — in a rare move — gave a statement toPage Sixsaying, “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.” They added that she was “doing well.”
March 4:TMZpublishes a grainy photo of Kate sitting in the front passenger seat of a car wearing sunglasses while being driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, near Windsor Castle. This is the first time Kate has been photographed out in public since December 25. The photo also furthers moreconspiracy theories.
March 5: The official UK Army website listedKate being in attendanceat the Horse Guards Parade on June 8. Many thought this would be her first public appearance, however, her name was quickly taken down from the website. Kensington Palace clarified they hadn’t been consulted about her attending. Again, this only furthered more questions online about Kate and if she is well.
March 6: William subtly addresses all the rumors about Kate online. A spokesperson for him toldPeoplethat, “His focus is on his work and not on social media.”
March 10: In honor of Mother’s Day this now infamous photo was uploaded to The Prince and Princess of Wales' official Instagram account.
Along with Kate wishing everyone a happy Mother’s Day and thanking everyone for their well wishes, the caption also emphasizes that the photo was taken by William in 2024:
People onlineimmediately began to noticethat the photo wasn’t just a casual shot and that it had been heavily edited (um, and not well). And yetagain, furthering even more conspiracy theories.
I cause 10 ! How many can you spot?#KateMiddletonpic.twitter.com / kLM5igncXN
Some, like TikTokerAllyn Aston— who has gotten over 1.6 million views on thisTikTok— wondered if the photo was even taken this year. It was pointed out that the clothes looked exactly like the outfits Kate, George, Charlotte, and Louis had worn in an official video that they shot in November of 2023, only photoshopped with different colors:
I have a strong suspicion that this “ new ” photo of Kate Middleton and her small fry was taken in November 2023 baded on the outfits . There is ample evidence of unsound Photoshop throughout this exposure and it is my personal popular opinion that it is because it is onetime and they endeavor to change the outfits so that it did n’t look like a match . This is stark conjecture and impression based on my own research.#katemiddleton#whereiskate#whereiskatemiddleton#princessofwales#kensingtonpalace#britishroyals#british#popculture#popculturenews
The video referenced had been uploaded to The Prince and Princess of Wales (Kensington Palace) officialYouTube channelon December 11. In the short video, Kate and the three kids can be seen visiting a Baby Bank:
Whileothers wonderedif Kate was even in the photo at all, speculating that they had photoshopped a photo of her head from her 2016 British Vogue cover onto someone else in the shot.
Also on March 10: In an unusual move, the AP, AFP, and Reuters sent out kill notifications for the Mother’s Day photo and pulled it from their site because the photo was manipulated (beyond their standard) and that no replacement photo would be sent.
No input from Kensington Palace tonight after at least 3 international pictures agencies refuse to distribute this morning ’s photo of Kate and her children . Some of them ( @AP ) have claimed “ the generator [ the castle ] has manipulated the image”.pic.twitter.com/ppOwDtPr9P
March 11: Kate issues astatement apologizingabout the whole photo situation, saying, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
Like many inexpert photographer , I do from time to time experiment with editing . I want to verbalise my apology for any confusion the phratry pic we share yesterday caused . I hope everyone celebrate had a very happy Mother ’s Day . ascorbic acid
And, of course,people onlinequickly turned her “I do occasionally experiment with editing” into funny memes and tweets.
Butothers were suspiciousof Kate’s apology. Pointing out how they had highlighted that William had taken the photo but then later Kate was thrown under the bus when it was revealed that it had been heavily edited. Also, both Buckingham and Kensington Palace notoriously oversee every single little detail of anything (statements, photos, etc.) being released by the Royals, so they questioned and doubted that they would have just let Kate upload a photo onto their Wales Instagram for media companies around the world to use.
Also on March 11: TheDaily Mailpublished a photo of William and Kate taken by the paparazzi of them in the back of a car with William being driven to Westminster Abbey for Commonwealth Day service and Kate to a private appointment. While you can clearly see William in the photo looking at his phone, Kate is looking the opposite way and you could only really catch a small of the part backside of her face and head.
People wereimmediately suspicious of the photosauthenticity after the whole Mother’s Day fiasco. They pointed out that the bricks seen through the car window didn’t match the bricks above the car outside. And also that the side profile of Kate looked like it had been photoshopped from this photo of her at Battle of the Somme centenary commemoration inFrancein 2016.
March 12: Kate’s disappearance from the public also helped resurface years old rumorsonlineof William’s ALLEGED affair with their close friend Lady Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (on the right). The alleged affair was brought into the mainstream when during his opening monologue onThe Late Show,Stephen Colbertjoked, “The Kingdom has been all a flutter about the seeming disappearance ofKate Middleton. Well now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair.”
March 13: Thephoto agencybehind the car photo spoke with E! News and assured them that the photo was indeed authentic and that the bricks looked different because of the way the Daily Mail had cropped the photo. In the wider shot you can see that there is a small brick wall (seen through the cars window) and that behind the small brick wall is a brick house (that can be seen above the car).
March 14: Agence France-Presse (AFP)announcesthat Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted longer a “trusted source” because of the edited photo situation.
March 15: The Daily Beat publishes astorywhere — according to friends of Kate — they state that she is suffering from “intense stress” due to Harry and Meghan (because of course they need to bring them into it). And also that she was mad at the Kensington Palace staff because they were the ones who had posted the picture on Instagram not her.
March 16:Reportscome out that Buckingham Palace has notified the BBC of a “major announcement” coming within the next 72 hours.
And lastly, March 17: The Sun publishes astorythat Kate was seen “happy, healthy, and relaxed” while shopping with William on Saturday, March 16, at a local shop. Now there are no photos of her there and this based on a single eyewitness who is not named.People online, of course, are suspicious of this story and only further drives more conspiracy theories
The Prince and Princess of Wales / Viayoutube.com
