Kate Middleton finally spotted in public — but rumours, conspiracies endure

The lack of updates about the Princess of Wales has caused a firestorm of rumours and outlandish misinformation.

To even the most casual observer, it’s clear the British Royal Family has experienced a rocky start to 2024.

There have been headline-making health concerns, including King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, Prince William’s decision to skip his godfather’s memorial service at the 11th hour, an untimely death in the extended family and, now, news that Queen Camilla will take a week off from royal duties, reportedly “exhausted” from completing 13 official engagements alone in the past month while also supporting her sick husband.

But none of the aforementioned trials and tribulations hold a candle to the online firestorm that ignited over the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, a.k.a. The Princess of Wales.

Some of the wholly unfounded rumours suggest that the Princess might have had a facelift or other cosmetic surgery. Other out-there theories that suggest she’s in a coma or victim of a sinister Palace cover-up were mostly stifled Monday when she was seemingly photographed by paparazzi riding passenger in her mother, Carole’s, car.

“The Princess was low-key, looking out the window as her mother paid attention to the road,” the eyewitness who claimed to have seen the Princess, told ET Online.

And while it is slightly unusual and concerning that the Palace has been so tight-lipped about why Kate is taking more than three months out of the public eye and has not released many updates or even a message, the issue has spread from the far corners of the internet gossip mill and into the mainstream media, highlighting the intense scrutiny that always seems to disproportionally fall on the female members of the royal family.

Read on for what we know about Kate Middleton’s lengthy absence from public duty and how the internet spiralled into a complex web of conspiracy theories and unhinged gossip.

On Jan. 17, Kensington Palace release their first statement about Middleton’s health, informing the world that she had undergone an abdominal surgery the previous day at the London Clinic.