Portions of the internet spent Monday pondering the following question: If the most famous woman in the world, whose whereabouts has prompted the exchange of countless billions of terabytes of data in recent weeks, went to a kids’ sports match and farm shop over the weekend, wouldn’t someone have got a photo?
The grand enigma of the whereabouts and wellbeing of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, got even more curious Monday morning when The Sun carried a front-page picture of a happy-looking Kate accompanied by the headline that she had been “seen out with (husband Prince) William” at a sports event for her kids and at a local farm shop in Windsor on a “public trip.”
Only one problem: This juicy royal apple had a worm. As a community “context” note swiftly appended to The Sun’s X post made clear: “This post and accompanying image are misleading. The photo of Kate used here is from last autumn. Kate was not seen by any verified sources and there are no photographs of her ‘public trip.’”
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Then, in the late afternoon, a new visual appeared, care of The Sun again, and the headlines—as so often with the Kate saga over the last few months—changed again. A video purporting to have been shot at the farm shop showed a happy-looking Kate walking alongside William. She was smiling, and apparently extremely alive.
Will the video bring to an end to the conjecture around Kate’s health, or will the video itself become contested, and mere grist for the feverish conspiracy theory mill? As the bestselling royal author Christopher Andersen told The Daily Beast: “Every time Kate pops her head above the parapet, it only serves to remind us that we still don’t know what the hell is going on. Throwing gas on the fire every few days is no way to put it out.”
Indeed, until the video, the whirlpool of conspiracy theories was in full gyration, not helped by a new rumor doing the rounds Monday that Kate might be making a statement to the BBC sometime on or before Wednesday (the Palace did not respond to a request for comment on this matter from The Daily Beast).
Rumor or not, the idea of a sit-down interview with the BBC must have crossed the minds of Kate’s staff as one way to definitively end the speculation.
Kate Middleton during a public appearance at the Orchards Centre in Kent last year.
Paul Grover/Pool via ReutersHowever, one reputation and crisis manager, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Beast: “I deal in outcomes, so I wouldn’t advise doing an interview with the BBC because interviews with royals on the BBC have not gone well in the past. The truth is that the correct thing to do entirely depends on what is wrong with her. If, for example, it is a hysterectomy, as has been widely rumored, it might make sense to do an interview with a newspaper explaining what was wrong with her.
“It would also be sensible to release the originals of the Mother’s Day photographs. That would go a long way towards re-establishing trust. Don’t forget that, on the plus side, they do now seem to have both the Sun and the Mail on-side, basically saying, ‘She’s fine, leave her alone.’ That is a huge part of the British press and it’s no small accomplishment. They might decide to stick to Plan A, ignore the social media stuff, have her appear on Easter Sunday and hope it all goes away.”
Norah Lawlor, a New York publicist and reptation manager, told The Daily Beast: “The ‘text only’ sighting of the Princess of Wales at the weekend combined with a file photo probably points to the Palace employing a gradated communication strategy to ‘work up’ her public visibility as her health improves. Given her global recognition and the pressures of the role combined with caring for her family it makes good sense to be under-the-radar until she can return to the public eye in as good shape as before.
“The image which was digitally changed has become one of the most high-profile examples of the issue of authenticity and trust in the digital age. My own advice for the future would be to steer clear of any personal images being deployed publicly by the royal family which are not from an authorized photographer.
“Having only professional images taken from now on will establish the impartiality and legitimacy of those images. In the long run the royals should revert to a ‘less is more’ media strategy and resist the temptation to post continually—William and Kate are global personalities and should not feel the pressure to post.”
The veteran British crisis manager Mark Borkowski told The Daily Beast: “I think that a lot of what you are seeing online in reaction to the story about her being out and about at the weekend is people who are disappointed to find out that she has not been abducted by aliens or chained up in a dungeon in Windsor Castle.
“She slipped out under the radar this weekend. William’s message is: I am putting my family first; we said Kate was not available till after Easter, that’s still the case, and when she is ready she will come back.
“Admittedly, my instinct would have been to come out and do something spectacular to throw all the naysayers into a ditch, but William is doing it his way—trying to protect his family’s privacy—and whether that is right or wrong we will soon find out.”
Easter is a time for resurrection, but whether the Palace—which did not respond to a request asking if Kate had indeed visited a farm shop this weekend—can hold their nerve and wait two more weeks for Kate’s big relaunch remains to be seen. Or maybe we should prepare ourselves for some more, very furtive-looking videos of shopping trips.
