Kate Middleton revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer. This had to be done after months of silence from Kensington Palace and discussion of wild conspiracy theories from the press and the Internet. After the princess’s statement, some admitted guilt for joking with her. Others felt that if the humor wasn’t about cancer, then there was nothing to be ashamed of. Vika Anistratova reconstructed the chain of events of “Katespirology”, like this scandal nicknamed in the mediaand came to a disappointing conclusion: somewhere in this whole story they lost humanity.
Where did Kate Middleton go?
January 17, 2024 Kensington Palace press service released an official statement: Kate Middleton is undergoing elective abdominal surgery. The exact diagnosis of the Princess of Wales was not reported, but the public was assured that her health was not in danger. All scheduled appointments were canceled so she could recover from surgery. The press service added that Kate is “unlikely to return to her duties before Easter.” This news coincided with announcement Buckingham Palace that King Charles III was also undergoing prostate surgery (news later came that British monarch diagnosed with cancer).
Several days passed, palace representatives only reported that the operation was successful and the princess was recovering. But unlike King Charles III, who tried to appear in public more often after the diagnosis was announced, there was no news from Kate and the Welsh family. No photos, no statements. The Princess has not been seen since December 25, while Prince William regularly attended public events such as the BAFTA ceremony. However, he refused to comment on the condition of his wife, only repeating that she was fine. Even then, rumors began to spread about Kate’s condition.
Speculation intensified when Prince William refused to participate in the funeral service by the late King Constantine of Greece. He was scheduled to give a speech but canceled his visit at the last minute. The press service of Kensington Palace then referred to the prince’s “personal matters.” This decision thought it was strangegiven that Constantine was William’s godfather.
Kate’s disappearance from the public sphere, the silence of the press service and the mysterious behavior of William raised many suspicions that something was wrong with the Princess of Wales.
Treason, beatings, coma and unsuccessful plastic surgery
“Kate Middleton is dead!” — wrote on social networks. Users began to theorize that in fact the operation was not successful. Kate is in a coma or already dead. And the palace is carefully preparing her double to present it to the public as the Princess of Wales who has undergone plastic surgery. Buckle up, this wasn’t the wildest version yet.
Plastic surgery too considered the cause of the disappearance princesses from the public space. Some claimed that Kate had a botched facelift, others that she was carried away by the Brazilian butt lift. One way or another, now, they say, she is ashamed to appear in public. And if this is not an operation, then it is still some kind of cosmetic problem: there was also an assumption that Kate had a bad haircut and is now waiting for her bangs to grow back.
Kate Middleton’s representatives continued to insistthat they have already made a statement about the health of the Princess of Wales and the approximate time frame for her recovery. They do not intend to provide any new information. And the conveyor belt of rumors and speculation continued to release new versions. Whispers began to spread, as if Prince William beat Kate. Now she is either hiding from everyone, healing her bruises, or has fallen into a coma again. Next version – William cheated on Kate Middleton with Marchioness Rose Hanbury and she even expecting a child with the heir to the British throne. There was a theory floating around the Internet that Kate escaped from the palace, leaving her husband and three children. All this was accompanied by posts, tweets and hashtags with endless “Where is Kate?”, “Show us Kate!”, “We demand Kate!”
A whole detective epic unfolded around the first photograph of Kate Middleton after reports of the operation. First leaked to the Internet paparazzi shot, which shows the Princess of Wales with her mother in a car. The British press, remembering the scandals surrounding the photographs of Princess Diana, didn’t post the photo of dubious origin. This only fueled the public’s interest. The enlarged, grainy image of Kate was searched for any evidence that it was a doppelgänger.
Kensington Palace has finally decided to break the silence, and for Mother’s Day official photo has appeared Kate Middleton with George, Charlotte and Louis. The caption said that William took the photo, and Kate thanks everyone for their attention and support. But the conspiracy theorists could no longer be stopped, and this time with good reason. There were traces of Photoshop in the photographs, so the press had to retract the photo as “untrustworthy”. A few days later the Princess of Wales published an apologyexplaining that as an amateur photographer she sometimes experiments with retouching, but this time she got carried away.
Conspiracy theories have now been joined by jokes about the mysterious disappearance of Kate Middleton. They laughed at Kate’s phrase about her passion for Photoshop, and at her disappearance in general. Celebrities also joined the dubious flash mob, for example, Blake Lively and Kim Kardashian.
Later posted a video, where Kate and William were returning from the farmers market. But it did not bring reassurance to the public. They claimed that the video was too blurry and that Kate was either too healthy or too thin. The last straw was a fake photograph of the flag flying at half-mast over Buckingham Palace. This is usually used to announce the death of a monarch or member of the royal family. And although it turned out that this photo was madeon the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, things didn’t get any easier. “Keyspirology” has apparently gotten out of hand.
The reality turned out to be prosaic and sad
Kate Middleton herself put an end to conspiracy theories. On March 22, 2024, the BBC published an official address from the Princess of Wales. She said that she was diagnosed with cancer. The abdominal surgery was indeed successful. However, subsequent tests showed the presence of cancer. Kate did not give a specific diagnosis, only explained that she was advised to undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy and that she had started treatment.
“This has of course come as a huge shock and William and I are doing everything we can to understand and resolve this issue privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this took time. It took me a while to recover from major surgery and begin treatment.”
At the end of her address, the Princess of Wales asked for “time, space and privacy” for her and her family.
The news about Kate Middleton’s health acted like a sobering cold shower on conspiracy theorists. Although even here some tried to find signs of the princess’s double. Nevertheless, there were discussions that this story speaks about the morality of modern society. Some celebrities who made fun of Kate apologized to her. Social media users too felt guilty after the incident: “I’m devastated by my inhumanity,” “I don’t want to be a hypocrite and not admit my participation in an online conversation,” “Let’s leave Kate Middleton alone!!!!”
“It’s appalling that she had to deal with all these cheating rumors and other wild headlines while explaining to her young children what was going on.”
Other countedthat there was nothing shameful in the jokes and conspiracy theories surrounding Kate Middleton. If anyone should be ashamed of this story, it should be the press service of Kensington Palace, which only fueled the situation with silence. And then she left Kate, who already knew about her diagnosis, to make excuses for a bad Mother’s Day photo.
So who is to blame?
There is no one party that can take full responsibility for what happened.
The press speculated on rumors and conspiracy theories about Kate’s condition, adding fuel to the fire of public curiosity. Yes, authoritative media did not make unequivocal statements that all was not well with the princess. Nevertheless, rumors and theories were discussed with pleasure. This isn’t the first time the media has been unkind to Kate. In the 2000s she nicknamed Waity Katie (“Waiting for Katie”) due to the fact that William was in no hurry to propose marriage to her. Then they called her “Lazy Kate”convincing that she works less than the rest of the royal family.
The press service of Kensington Palace has demonstrated its incompetence. Instead of finding a way to reassure the audience, to interrupt the series of rumors and speculation, the palace initially remained silent. Then, in a passive-aggressive manner, he stated that he would not give new explanations. And then he admitted a tent with photographs and videos of Kate Middleton. The press service workers had one task – to protect the reputation of Kate and the Welsh family. And they couldn’t cope with it. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand: Kate Middleton is too popular both among British citizens and throughout the world. You won’t be able to sweep it under the rug for a month or two. Even taking into account the princess’s words that she needed time to understand the diagnosis, it is hard to believe that there was no environmentally friendly way to console the public and not violate Kate’s privacy.
There are no dartagnans in this story. Excessive human curiosity fell upon a young woman who suddenly learned that she had a fatal disease inside her. Kate probably understands that the public has and will continue to be interested in her. As well as the fact that she has access to the best medicine in the world. However, does this rule out that Kate is first and foremost a woman who is sick and scared? What was it like for her to hear these wild theories that she was either mentally ill or had over-pumped her buttocks.
William, who walked behind the coffin of his suddenly deceased mother a little over twenty years ago, must keep his face, knowing that his young wife was given a terrible diagnosis. And at the same time read how he brutally beats his wife and sleeps with the pretty marquise. And this is not to mention the children of Kate and William, the eldest of whom just turned ten years old.
Yes, Kate signed up for publicity by agreeing to marry a member of the British royal family. But it is unfair to shift responsibility for what happened to the injured person. Until recently, everyone was so obsessed with Princess Diana that she had to literally hide from the paparazzi. We know what this led to. Alas, the royals are not the cast of The Crown. The interest in their private life is understandable. But there must be a moment when this curiosity needs to be said “enough.”
