Social media has been a complete and utter mess lately- but truthfully, when is it not? It seems that the hot topic recently is the apparent disappearance of the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton. 

Here at Nexus, we’ve decided to take a deep-dive across the internet to uncover the truth about Britain’s “lost” princess. In order to do so, we’ve created a small timeline to help you understand when and how the world began theorising the royal’s disappearance. 

December 25th, 2023

Kate Middleton’s Last Appearance

On Christmas Day last year, Princess Kate joined King Charles III, her husband Prince William, and her three children for their annual walk to Sandringham Church for the morning service. Prior to this, she had made multiple public appearances (including attending the Royal Variety Show in a gorgeous electric-blue Safiyaa gown alongside Prince William). 

January 17th, 2024

Hospitalisation and Surgery

In early 2024, an announcement from Kensington Palace shared that Kate Middleton had been hospitalised for abdominal surgery. The statement read:

“Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital yesterday for planned abdominal surgery. The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”

The statement also explained that Kensington Palace would only provide updates when “there is significant new information to share”. 

Although a particularly short timeline, the whereabouts of Kate Middleton are seemingly unknown. Public speculation has unsurprisingly increased in the multiple weeks that have passed since the announcement of her surgery, and various conspiracies are on the rise. So, let’s take a look at everything the media has had to say about the Princess.

Mother’s Day Portraits

The first official photo of Kate since she underwent surgery was pulled from circulation after speculation that the images were manipulated. The photo, showing Kate sitting in a chair surrounded by her three children, was posted in honour of Mother’s Day this year. However, the photo was pulled from circulation. A statement from the AP (Associated Press) declared that “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.”

For those of you who were as oblivious as I was, the photo showed several alterations:

  • Princess Charlotte’s left hand did not match up with her sweater sleeve;
  • Kate Middleton’s zipper was misaligned;
  • And there were several body parts, including a hand and a knee, that were awkwardly blurred. 

Conspiracies about Middleton’s whereabouts had been on the rise before the publication of this photo, thus this opportunity could have been used to clear up the rumours about whether or not she really is resting at home. However, it seems to have added more fuel to the fire, and now everyone is wondering one thing: where is Kate Middleton?

“There were three of us in this marriage”

It should come as no surprise that affair rumours have struck the Prince and Princess of Wales. With multiple “history repeats itself” videos shared across social media platforms, people have begun to speculate that Kate Middleton is in a similar predicament to the former Princess of Wales, Diana. 

Social media users have been speculating about the supposed affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury (Sarah Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley). Hanbury has been pictured at several royal events, and in 2016, she was seen chatting with Kate Middleton at a charity event. 

Amidst all of the conspiracies, Hanbury has spoken out to address the rumour via her legal team. She has said that “the rumours are completely false.” 

I have yet to find out where these rumours started, or who started them. However in the world of social media, it’s become far too easy to manipulate viewers with all kinds of false ideas.

Sightings (And Suspected Doubles)

A rare sighting of the Prince and Princess of Wales was filmed recently and published by The Sun newspaper. The pair were seen out shopping together, although as always, social media users took to theorising that the woman in the video is in fact, not Kate. Instead, people are claiming that the woman in the video is actually a body double. 

Scrolling through TikTok comments under the video, you’ll find many saying that instead of Kate Middleton, it’s actually the Princess’ impersonator Heidi Agan. Whether people genuinely believe that it is not Middleton in the video or are just fueling the fires of these rumours, the fact is that there have been no statements to truly give anyone closure about Kate’s whereabouts and wellbeing. 

What Does Nexus Think?

In all honesty, it’s quite funny to see just how quickly a small spark of a rumour can turn into an uncontrollable wildfire of conspiracies. If we think back to the official statement from Kensington Palace in January, it did say that Kate Middleton would return to public duties around Easter. Additionally, Kate knew that the sudden news of her surgery was going to generate chaos across social media, thus in the announcement, this was also said:

“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate. She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

Perhaps if we had all just sat down and waited a little bit longer before coming out with crazy ideas, the situation would be incredibly calm right now. I’m sure Kate is recovering at home and staying out of the public eye as much as she can (especially now because of all of the backlash from the Mother’s Day photo and the recent video), and that a Royal Announcement is on its way. 

However, if there is no announcement, I too want to know where the hell she is. 

So, What Now?

At the time of writing this, there are claims that the BBC is on alert for a Royal Announcement. Whether this is true or not (which will most likely be clear by the time you read this), people are eagerly waiting for more information. 

With the amount of conspiracies circling the internet, including those surrounding King Charles III, it is difficult to say whether or not a Royal Announcement would actually squander all of the rumours. There’s no doubt that whatever is said may generate even more rumours.

…March, 2024

Where is Kate?

The world is asking.