The red herring photo of the missing Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and the future Queen of England, has sent the world into a tizzy. And instead of dousing it, Kensington Palace PR seems to be fuelling it with kerosene. After Reuters, Getty Images and the Associated Press pulled an image released by the Palace—probably to shut down conspiracy theorists—Kate released a statement earlier today, apologising for ‘any confusion’ as she occasionally dabbles in editing photos. It has become, to borrow from internet parlance, a dumpster fire.
The Princess of Wales, one of the world’s most famous women, seems to have simply vanished from view. And Kensington Palace just spectacularly failed in their attempt not to fan the flames of rumour.
‘What’s happened to Kate Middleton’ is beyond a joke now — it’s getting sinister. It’s the question on the lips of all royal watchers, drama-mongers, and every otherwise chronically online person.
Kate hasn’t been seen in public since Christmas 2023 and was in the hospital in January for a “planned abdominal surgery”, after which she seems to have disappeared with no real updates on her whereabouts or wellbeing. To assuage fears, Kensington Palace released the red-herring photo of Kate and her three children — allegedly taken earlier in the week in Windsor by Prince William on Mother’s Day, only for agencies to issue a “kill notice” because the photo appeared to be manipulated.
The rumours, the misinformation, the conspiracy theories and the cover-ups are all feeding the frenzy around her whereabouts. People are now convinced that something is seriously wrong: The future Queen of England might be dead, in a coma, or worse—separated from the future King.
This frenzy speaks to the enduring ability of the royal family to capture the public imagination, and it goes well beyond the Diana obsession. It tells us a lot about the vicarious, voyeuristic nature of the internet.
Yes, there’s genuine concern for Kate’s well-being and good health, but there’s also a genuine appetite for drama and scandal. Innocuous reasons for her reticence are not good enough because it’s simply not satisfying enough: it can’t be a long-drawn-out recovery from surgery, it must be something deeper, darker, and dangerous.
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A canvas for conspiracy
The royals offer the perfect canvas for conspiracy, and Kate Middleton’s ‘disappearance’ is a crowdsourced masterpiece. Conspiracies range from her having botched plastic surgery to far more serious accusations of illness and domestic violence. The Palace’s dodgy history with mental health has resurfaced—could Kate have fallen victim to the same insidious pressure that plagued Princess Diana and Meghan Markle? Or have those rumours of Prince William’s infidelity pushed Kate to the point of no return? Surely the Palace can’t be covering up her death until they feel the public is ready, how old-fashioned.
And as Kensington Palace and the Wales’ continue in stony, snobby silence, the public clamouring gets louder. At this rate, the wheel of conspiracy won’t stop spinning if and when the Princess of Wales eventually clears things up herself. This will always exist in public memory, a massive tear in a perfectly stitched tapestry of modern monarchy.
It’s a tendency that stretches from royalists to revolutions, from guarding the crown to the guillotine. And this time, it’s neither a witch-hunt nor a public coronation, it’s a sinister search party.
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A game is afoot
But first, let’s rewind to a happier time: Christmas 2023. The royals were up and about, going to events, even winning the popularity contest against the beleaguered Sussexes—Harry and Meghan.
On 17 January, Kensington Palace—the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their office, not to be confused with Buckingham Palace, which speaks for King Charles and Queen Camilla—released a statement that Kate had undergone a “planned abdominal surgery” the previous day, and that while it had gone to plan, she would have to postpone her upcoming engagements. Why upcoming engagements hadn’t been rescheduled prior to a planned surgery is anyone’s guess. Kate then allegedly returned to Kensington Palace on 29 January, where she was “making good progress.” The fact that her sister, Pippa Middleton, was photographed on holiday towards the end of February might be of some relief to those concerned about Kate’s death.
William’s behaviour hasn’t helped matters. He cancelled events at the last minute—pulling out of his godfather’s funeral over a “personal matter”—and showed up in public with bruises on his neck, right after another member of the royal family was discovered dead. All this has only heightened the concern over the health of William and Kate’s marriage.
What really makes this sequence of events odd is the contrast provided by those closest to William and Kate: Buckingham Palace. During this ordeal, King Charles was almost too open and transparent with the press.
On 17 January, the same day that Kate’s hospitalisation was announced, Buckingham Palace released a statement that Charles has an enlarged prostate and that he’ll be going to the hospital in a week for a procedure. This announcement was followed up with news on 5 February that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer. His wife visited him multiple times in the hospital, all photographed. Buckingham Palace even said that the King had chosen to share his diagnosis to “prevent speculation”.
But this is obviously not the strategy that the younger royals have chosen. And it doesn’t seem to be helping William and Kate’s case.
The ways in which the British royal family deploy the press is well-documented. Every portrayal of them—from newspapers to Netflix’s The Crown—shows how modern royals have had to adapt to modern times, in which more and more of their lives spill over into the public domain. Opposite camps leak stories to the press all the time, trying to one-up each other — whether it’s Diana vs Charles and Camilla, or William vs Harry.
This is exactly why the silence is suspicious. Fans of the Wales’ wax eloquent about their love for privacy, with William’s PR machinery working overtime to paint him as the responsible, lively, charming future King that neither his father nor his brother could ever be. But oddly, Buckingham Palace seems to be showing Kensington Palace up.
The difference in protocol points to a PR crisis. Whatever it is, a game seems to be afoot.
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Only a matter of time
The most recent Photoshop (or AI) failure—in which Kate seems to claim that she personally edits photos to be posted on the royals’ Instagram—underlines this panic.
At this point, Kensington Palace is putting band-aids on a bullet wound. The intrigue around Kate’s disappearance is a shot in the arm for conspiracy theorists and the dramatically inclined: the damage is already done.
Plus, this is something that’s playing out across social media and reality TV and not just the news. On 4 March, American celebrity news site TMZ published the first, highly grainy photo of Kate post-surgery—which many scoffed at. The Mother’s Day photo was no improvement. And Kate’s uncle Gary Goldsmith was just on reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, openly saying something was wrong with Kate.
The fevered speculation is something the internet does well. Things have progressed from making jokes about Kate growing out bangs or hiding surgically enhanced parts of her body to wondering about whether she’s been beaten up, hurt or even murdered. The rumours are threatening the carefully built foundation that William and Kate present to the public eye. It’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out.
Kensington Palace earlier announced that Kate is “unlikely” to resume her duties until Easter, which is 31 March. Either way, the Palace is running out of time and the public is running out of patience.
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(Edited by Theres Sudeep)