Princess Catherine of Wales, formerly Kate Middleton, revealed she has cancer after widespread speculation regarding her whereabouts since Christmas Day. The princess was diagnosed with cancer and is in the early stages of her treatment.

An emotional video message recorded by BBC Studios on March 20 and released by Kensington Palace on March 22 provided information on her diagnosis: “In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous,” said Princess Kate.

“The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.”

Comedians, news sites, and theorists felt terrible for their absurd levels of speculation. Before her statement regarding her cancer diagnosis, the public eye got increasingly suspicious, as only Kensington Palace spoke on behalf of the princess’s whereabouts. A grainy photo of Katherine and her mother came out on the American gossip site, TMZ. British papers chose not to publish it to protect her privacy under Kensington Palace. They released a portrait of her and her three children on Mother’s Day in Britain, which was noticeably edited. This manipulation in the photo led photo agencies, such as the U.K.’s Press Association to issue notices to news outlets, asking them to stop publishing the photo as it didn’t meet their guidelines.
The press was left unsure of the princess’s true well-being after she published a statement on X: “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.” This was the first time she spoke for herself since she withdrew from the public eye and people are concerned with why she felt compelled to edit the photo.
Following Princess Kate’s statement regarding her cancer diagnosis, Blake Lively, a famous actor, felt especially guilty after making a joke regarding her photoshop on the internet. She said in an Instagram story, “I’m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this…I made a silly post around the ‘photoshop fails’ frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I’m sorry.”
There was never photographic evidence of the princess leaving the hospital. Although this may be for privacy rights, it was questionable to the press considering her father-in-law, King Charles, had information and photographic evidence of himself regarding his surgery for an enlarged prostate.
Some theories got so out of hand they started questioning Princess Kate’s husband, Prince William, who announced he could not attend his Godfather’s funeral for “personal reasons.” Although he told news sources such as CNN that it was unrelated to his wife’s health, this sparked a social media outburst of conspiracies. Kensington Palace issued a personal statement in response to the speculation: “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.”
The internet came up with several conspiracy theories since many didn’t believe she was solely missing in action after her surgery. Social media was especially concerned with Prince William and Princess Kate’s marriage. There was a theory that Princess Kate was missing due to a breakdown over an alleged affair between Prince William and Sarah Rose Hanbury, a Marchioness of Cholmondeley, a friend of Prince William with ancestral ties to the royal family. Now that the truth has unfolded, these theories have died out, and many feel a rush of guilt for poking at her privacy.