As 'where's Kate' conspiracy theories run wild, here's how the story became such a royal mess

It started with an official announcement that Catherine, Princess of Wales, had been admitted to the hospital for "planned abdominal surgery," and an acknowledgement that she "appreciates the interest this statement will generate."

Almost two months later, #KateGate is trending on social media, an American talk show is "spilling the tea" about unconfirmed affair rumours involving Prince William, the Washington Post ripped him in an editorial cartoon depicting him manipulating a puppet of his wife in front of a palace window, and internet sleuths are picking apart every photo ever released by Kensington Palace. All of this comes as the public repeatedly asks: Where's Kate?

As media outlets and royal commentators around the world have noted, "interest" may have been an understatement.

From the beginning, Kensington Palace was clear: Catherine was unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter, and the palace would only provide updates "when there is significant new information to share."

But in an information vacuum, people have created their own theories — some of them funny, some of them dark, none of them confirmed.

"Things just keep getting crazy. You think they can't and then they do," Ellie Hall, former royal correspondent for BuzzFeed News, told CBC's Front Burner Wednesday.

"There are the jokes, there are the memes, but a lot of people are really feeling if they're telling the truth about this and Kate is well and Kate's on the mend, why did these weird things keep happening? Are they trying to cover something up?"

Whether something goes "viral" comes down to timing and public interest, and this controversy nailed both, said Shana MacDonald, an associate professor in communication arts at the University of Waterloo who studies pop culture and social media.

"The internet is always looking for a new story and new cycle to grab onto and run with," MacDonald told CBC News.

"This one emerged from public-generated conspiracy shared on social media, which makes it easy to become viral if it hits public interest at the right time.

"This was even more ready to spread widely due to the monarchy's PR response, which was not strong and added even more questions and fuel to the unending theories." 

Questions have swirled about the health of Catherine since Jan. 17, when Kensington Palace announced Catherine's planned surgery. At that point, she hadn't been seen publicly since Christmas Day. The statement offered no other details, other than clarifying her condition wasn't cancerous.

In late January, the palace said in a statement that Catherine was making "good progress," and was back at home in Windsor.

Then, when Prince William cancelled his appearance at King Constantine's memorial service for "personal matters" on Feb. 27, theories reached a fever pitch. The hashtag #WheresKate and the term "Kate Middleton" took off on X, formerly Twitter.