Loss of control
How Kate’s illness is completely overwhelming the palace
How is Princess Kate doing? This question has been on the minds of more than just supporters of the royal family in the UK for weeks and months. The search for an answer has become a veritable obsession on social media since the 42-year-old wife of the heir to the British throne, Prince William (41), underwent abdominal surgery in January.
There is new speculation and conspiracy theories every day. But the palace has yet to give a clear answer. Kate does not want to reveal her diagnosis or details of her recovery process to the public and is to refrain from making any public appearances until after the Easter vacations. And although many believe the Princess of Wales has the right to privacy, there are considerable doubts as to whether this strategy is wise.
"She should be sitting here ..."
Even reputable media outlets are now picking up on every comment made about Kate. When William made a casual remark about his wife on Tuesday during a visit to a project he had set up for the homeless, it became a lead story for major news portals. This was despite the fact that nothing was said about her health.
"We are invading my wife's territory. She should be sitting here to hear this," he had said.
Royal family at the level of the Kardashians?
Meanwhile, the BBC devoted an analysis on its news website to refuting the latest conspiracy theory on TikTok and Twitter - which, by their nature, are mainly about crude claims that the palace has something scandalous to hide or that Kate is actually much worse off than suspected.
In light of the out-of-control debate, royal expert Tina Brown has already accused the British royal family of having sunk to the level of the US celebrity clan the Kardashians. "I definitely think there's a loss of stature that this has developed into because it all feels ridiculous and scandalous," the British-American journalist and former "Vanity Fair" editor told radio station LBC.
"Collapse of royal communication"
The journalist and author of several royal books, Rob Jobson, speaks of a "breakdown in royal communication" that is damaging the reputation of the entire royal family. It was downright naive to believe that Kate could simply disappear from the scene for several months.
Buckingham Palace behaved much more wisely after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer, for example by showing the 75-year-old reading recovery wishes. He suspects that one of the reasons for the difficulties may be that the press work for the royal couple and the heir to the throne is not in one hand as it used to be, but that William and Kate run their own press office at Kensington Palace.
Manipulated Mother's Day photo
The situation was made considerably worse by the clumsy attempt to allay concerns about Kate with a family photo of the Princess and her children: the picture released by Kensington Palace on Mother's Day was withdrawn by international news agencies within hours. The reason given was that it had been manipulated.
After initial hesitation, the palace published a post on the X platform in which Kate herself commented on the photo affair, which quickly became known as "Kategate". She had "like many amateur photographers, occasionally experimented with image manipulation" and apologized for any confusion the picture had caused. However, the photo was not published in its original form.
Direct communication without questions
The case fueled mistrust of the Palace's communications and was grist to the mill of conspiracy theorists. For Jobson, the episode is evidence of a failure in royal press relations - but also a consequence of the tendency for many institutions and celebrities in the social media age to believe that the established press is superfluous. They are increasingly communicating directly with their subjects via Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in order to convey their own unfiltered self-image to the public. "It's much easier because you don't have to face any questions," says Jobson. But an institution that spends public money has to put up with legitimate questions from the free press.
When the tabloid newspaper "The Sun" published a cell phone video allegedly showing Kate and William shopping in a farm store near their home at Windsor Castle last weekend, this did not put an end to the speculation. This is despite Kate appearing to be fit and in a good mood as she strolled past parked cars with a white shopping bag. The shaky video probably cost the Sun tens of thousands of euros, Jobson estimates.
Where this development will lead is uncertain. Meanwhile, the tabloid "Mirror" reported that an investigation had been launched at the private London clinic where Kate was treated: Allegedly, a member of staff tried to obtain Kate's medical records.
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