The Royal Family has moved to give assurances over the health of the Princess of Wales, after conspiracy theories emerged on the internet about her condition.
The Princess, formerly known as Kate Middleton, underwent planned abdominal surgery on January 17, and stayed in hospital for two weeks. At the time, Kensington Palace said that the Princess, 42, would spend some time recovering at the family’s Adelaide Cottage in Windsor and would not return to public duties until around Easter.
Since then, other than to say she had left hospital, there have been few concrete updates on the Princess’ condition – apart from Prince William saying she is “recovering well” – nor pictures of her.
This is in contrast to her father-in-law, King Charles III, who, since his cancer diagnosis, has been pictured and put out a public message to thank well-wishers.
With few concrete details on the situation, some on social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter) have taken to positing their own theories as to what the situation is and why there have been so few updates on the Princess and no pictures of her since Christmas 2023.
Theories have included that the Princess experienced complications while in hospital and had been in a coma – which was alleged by Concha Calleja on Spanish news show ‘Fiesta’ and has been reported in other Spanish news outlets.
However, Calleja’s claims were rubbished by an unnamed Palace source as “nonsense.”
The conspiracy theories jumped into another gear earlier this week when Prince William pulled out of giving a reading at a memorial service to his godfather at short notice, citing a ‘personal matter’ but giving no other details.
Theories have ranged from concerns over the Princess’ health, to a breakdown of her marriage. None of these theories, it should be emphasized, have been backed up with any shred of evidence.
Some theories are less serious – one wit on X speculated that the reason the Princess hasn’t been seen is that she is currently growing out her bangs.
Whatever the situation, it will only be when the Princess, or the wider Royal family, decide to reveal more information themselves that the speculation will be ended.
