Yesterday, paparazzi photographs of the Princess of Wales and her mother, Carole Middleton, driving in an Audi on the grounds of Windsor Castle were published by TMZ. To read that sentence out of context, it might sound remarkably ordinary: Kate Middleton? In a car? Where she lives?
In reality, the images were anything but. They almost instantly began trending on X and were picked up by tabloids around the world. Even the most respected newspapers—who rarely, if ever, comment on grainy pap shots such as this—weighed in from a straightforward news perspective without running the photos.
The reason for the furor? It’s the first time the Princess has been publicly spotted since December 25, 2023. On January 17, Kensington Palace announced she had undergone a planned abdominal surgery and would be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days. They added that she would return to public duties after Easter.
At first, the statement seemed vague yet straightforward: Kate Middleton was recovering from a serious procedure for the next two months, but would return to work in April. Yet, as the weeks dragged on—and the princess, arguably the most consistently photographed woman in the world remained out of sight—rumors began circulating in conspiratorial corners of the internet.
It all hit a fever pitch in late February. Over the week of February 25, a series of tragic circumstances hit the royal family: first, the sudden death of Thomas Kingston, the husband of royal family member Lady Gabriella. (It was later ruled a suicide.) Then, Prince William unexpectedly pulled out from a memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, for what was described as a “personal matter.” All the while, King Charles III was dealing with a cancer diagnosis. While an ordinary family would have usually garnered universal sympathy and privacy, the Windsors—probably the most popular, best-selling tabloid subjects aside from the Kardashians—did not. The internet, especially X, exploded with commentary: What was really going on in the House of Windsor?
A fair amount of these posts were darkly humorous. (Some tweets suggested she’d been sighted at the disastrous Glasgow Willy Wonka experience.) However, many took a more sinister tone, speculating that the Princess was “missing,” and that the royal family was hiding the real reason for her absence from public life.
Kensington Palace then reiterated its original statement: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.” A few days later, paparazzi captured the Princess in person.
Due to the wild, widespread nature of the rumors around the Princess, a paparazzi photo of her did understandably warrant a news story. (Even if most outlets refrained from publishing the photos themselves, acknowledging their sordidness: “There are pap picture [sic] of the Princess of Wales. We are not running them out of respect for her privacy whilst she recovers from her operation in the timescale we were given for it,” Chris Ship, ITV’s royal editor, said on X. “As far as I know, no other UK broadcaster or newspaper has published the photos either.”)
Yet, the conspiracy theories still stuck—with some users convinced that the photos were staged, or even more bizarrely, that she had used a body double.
In the age of social media, conspiracy theories that once only existed on the fringes of society can permeate and spread widely through mainstream culture. Their most frequent target? Political and public figures—even ones who are bipartisan. Especially the women in the British royal family. During her brief tenure as a working royal, Meghan Markle was plagued with accusations that she was faking her pregnancy. The attacks quickly turned misogynistic and racist. As it turns out, spreading such unfounded conspiracies was a business: In 2022, a data analysis agency found that the Duchess was the target of a monetized hate campaign by 25 YouTube channels that earned an estimated $3.5 million from ad revenue.
When we talk about the health of the Princess of Wales, that harsh reality is important to note: conspiracy theories are now an industry. The more clicks and views a spreader of these rumors gets, the more their voice is amplified and able to be monetized. So sure, some of the commentary might be good fun. But a lot of it has ominous motives. And respecting Kate Middleton’s privacy? That won’t make you a profit.
