“No wonder people are curious”

In mid-January, the official X account, formerly known as Twitter, of the Prince and Princess of Wales (Prince William and Kate Middleton) shared a statement about how Kate had recently undergone “planned abdominal surgery” that would require her to recover out of public view for several months.

Despite a January 29 statement and follow-ups about Kate coming home from the hospitalHundreds of thousands of social media users have taken it upon themselves to play doctors and amateur detectives to spread conspiracy theories about what is really happening behind the walls of Adelaide Cottage, the couple's residence on the Windsor Castle estate. , where the princess is reportedly still recovering.

“Kate Middleton is one of our most popular royals and one of the most watched and loved women in the world,” British journalist. Sharon Carpenter told Yahoo News. “No wonder people are curious and even concerned about where he is and how he is recovering.”

The tipping point for online conspiracy theories appeared to occur after Prince William walked out of a memorial service for his godfather on February 27, citing “personal reasons.” Royal biographer Phil Dampier he told the daily mail that the prince's absence was “very worrying.”

The timing also coincides with the opening of Buckingham Palace. February 5 announcement that King Charles had been diagnosed with cancer, causing some Internet users to wonder why One diagnosis was specified but not the other..

Ellie HallAn investigative reporter who has covered the royal family for outlets like BuzzFeed News, told Yahoo News that her theory is that speculation about Kate wouldn't be so intense if there weren't such a big difference in the level of information being shared with her. the public.

“Buckingham Palace has not announced what type of cancer the king has, just as Kensington Palace has not revealed what Kate's medical condition is (supposedly at her request),” Hall explained. “But there is a huge discrepancy between what the public is told and the images they are presented with. The information vacuum has left a lot of room for all kinds of conspiracy theories to grow and spread.”

Hall pointed to paparazzi photos of Queen Camilla visiting King Charles in hospital before the announcement of his cancer diagnosis and more photos of them hanging out together after his treatment. Last week the palace shared a video of King Charles looking at get well soon cards.

“Here's the thing: People have been constructing narratives about the world's royal families since time immemorial,” Hall said. “But real press teams are often better than this at making sure they have provided enough information to make conspiracy theories ridiculously false – the current situation gives rise to speculation.”

Comparatively, the last time Kate and her children were seen in public and photographed was during the royals' annual Christmas walk. Prince William, however, gave a speech on February 7 at Air Ambulance Charity in London and was photographed at the BAFTA Awards on February 18: a photo with actress those two even became a viral meme.

Fans seem worried that Kate, who is an X user he pointed had posed outside the hospital just after giving birth, has not yet been photographed – even though the palace had said in its first statement in January that Kate would not participate in public events until after Easter, which is March 31.

“We still don't know why he had abdominal surgery,” Carpenter said. “While Kate, of course, has every right to privacy while she recovers, keeping information away from the public will always lead to speculation, and the longer the silence, the more fans will start playing detective on social media “.

According to Hall, the question people should be asking shouldn't be whether it's a good idea for the palace to share photos of Kate in recovery, especially when she asked for privacy.

“The question is: 'Why is Buckingham Palace sharing new images/videos/photos of the king?' and 'Why can't Kensington Palace share a similar medium with the Princess of Wales?'” Hall said. “Only William and Kate's press team can answer that question.”