By Stella Williams

From December to mid-March, many British royal family fans became concerned about the disappearance of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England, from the media. Many accounts and followers of the royal family took to social media to share their worries and beliefs about what could have happened to Middleton. Over the months, many conspiracies were created, some becoming more bizarre as time passed. 

Middleton met Prince William, the current heir of the British monarchy, in 2001 while attending Scotland’s St. Andrews University. They married in 2011 and have three children: George, Charlotte, and Louis. 

Official statement on Middleton’s condition. Photo credit: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ X account.

Mehera Bonner, a journalist for Cosmopolitan, wrote an article outlining the timeline of Middleton’s disappearance from all media. Her last official appearance was on December 25, 2023, during the royal family’s annual Christmas walk. After that, Middleton was not seen for a month, and no formal news circulated about her whereabouts. That was until January 17, when the Prince and Princess of Wales released a statement on their shared X account that Kate would have a planned abdominal surgery and, “based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.” 

Instead of putting to rest murmurs of Middleton’s condition, The royals’ statement only launched a whole new set of theories. People began to speculate what the surgery could be for, or if there was even a surgery. It was not until January 29 that Middleton released a statement thanking her doctors from The London Clinic and informing her followers she was home, recovering well from her operation. 

Some of the public’s crazier conspiracies included that Kate had died and the royal family was covering it up, she was competing on a popular television show The Masked Singer, and she was staring in a new Hallmark movie. The hashtag “#WheresKate” quickly started trending on X as more people became invested in what could be going on with Middleton. 

Middleton and her three children in the controversial Mother’s Day photo. Photo credit: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram account.

As January went into February and early March, the public anxiously awaited any update or image of their beloved Princess. The royal family was reluctant to share any news, as it only released one post, saying, “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of Middleton’s recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.” It was not until March 4 that Middleton was photographed in a car with her mother, but still, the Palace stated she would not make any significant appearances until Easter. 

Everyone was anxiously awaiting Easter, or any more appearances from Middleton. The media remained full of gossip about the reasons for Middleton’s escape from the news, and more speculations would arise after a British Mother’s Day picture of Middleton and her three children was posted on Instagram on March 30. The photo almost appeared animated, or severely edited. The Associated Press was quick to retract the photo after speculation arouse around its legitimacy. Many followers were quick to comment about the status of the photo, to the point where Middleton had to respond by saying, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C” 

 A still from the video posted by Middleton about her cancer diagnosis. Photo credit: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ X account.

The public became obsessed with all the conspiracies about Middleton, although there was no official posting about Middleton’s condition until March 20. Middleton posted a video on her social platforms, trying to put all the rumors to rest. She explained she had had abdominal surgery in January, and that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She finished the video by saying, “We have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment.” The question of where Middleton has been has finally been answered. 

After Middleton’s announcement, I was in utter shock. I had believed Kate was in a rehab facility for an addiction or potential eating disorder. Many of my peers shared similar beliefs about Middleton’s circumstances and had some of their own beliefs as well. Maddie Jewett (‘25), like many others, believed the Princess of Wales had undergone body enhancement surgery. Her beliefs changed as speculation of an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, arose in the media, and she believed Kate’s disappearance was due to potential marriage problems. Heidi Albrecht (‘24) claimed, “Although there were a lot of wild rumors going around as to what happened to Kate, I thought the most believable was that she was having a medical issue or was having problems with William.” 

My mother, Carter Williams, took a different approach to all gossip by saying, “That poor girl needs a break sometimes.” Her friend Marshall Lynch, who was in London at the time of Kate’s procedure, agreed and said, “I was shocked at the amount of gossip I heard,” and that “nobody thought it was cancer. Everyone thought Kate was having marriage problems with William.” 

Kate Middleton. Photo credit: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram.

Many members of my History of England class shared the same sentiments as my mom and her friend. Harper Hailes (‘24) did not listen to any of the theories and commented that she “was really confused and worried about her, because she never disappears from the spotlight like this, and all the press making crazy assumptions about her only made it worse.” Our teacher, Upper School history and English monarchy expert Brain Justice (’85), agreed with Hailes and claimed, “I did not believe any of the conspiracies during Kate’s disappearance from public view. I believed that she was recovering from an abdominal surgery. I was concerned because of the official reports from the royal family and the absence of family from scheduled events, but not any of the things said on the media.” 

All of Middleton’s supporters have now shifted their focus away from posting misinformation and have used their media platforms to spread nothing but love and concern for the Middleton’s condition. As an avid fan of Middleton, I too can only hope for her speedy recovery and respect her privacy while her family copes with her diagnosis.