By Abigail Mableson
On 22nd March 2024, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, announced she was in the early stages of cancer treatment, after months of speculation, invasiveness and harassment from the British press and the general public. In a video released to the ‘KensingtonRoyal’ Twitter page, Kate reiterated the “huge shock" of her diagnosis, the importance of familial strength, and her overall uncertainty about her health.
Although Kate’s brave and heartfelt video is refreshingly sincere and honest, it is hard to sideline how Kate was pressured into sharing her cancer diagnosis, arguably prematurely, by British sources such as the BBC. In fact, the wider speculation of the British press, such trying to use false evidence and suspicious images to pinpoint Kate’s location, has warranted over 100 complaints to the BBC due to its ‘excessive and insensitive’ speculation. This kind of language makes it hard not to remember Diana, Princess of Wales, who was hounded by the press whilst just wanting to be a beloved mother to her sons. Is it arguable that Kate’s circumstances, and the heavy speculation prior to her diagnosis announcement, are just signs of public and journalistic disenfranchisement with the monarchy or is this situation just an inevitable scandal in the world of instant media?
The Uncovering of Diagnosis
The journey towards Kate’s announcement is a tumultuous and unusual one, with the theories of Kate’s whereabouts underpinning the millennial obsession with social media speculation. Christmas Day 2023 marked Kate’s last official royal engagement in which she attended the traditional family church service at Sandringham alongside the King and Queen Consort. After a few weeks of public silence, Kensington Palace announced Kate’s abdominal surgery, mentioning that she wanted to “maintain as much normalcy for her children as possible” throughout her recovery. This sense of normalcy was later disrupted following the King’s cancer diagnosis, a shocking result of his surgery for an enlarged prostate which had been previously announced to the public. It was at this point, Kate took a silent approach, having previously stated she would not take part in any royal engagements until after Easter. The only information given was that Kate was ‘doing well’ on 27th February, a public announcement only given after Prince William’s decision to withdraw from a public appearance.
Even whilst Kate and her family, especially in the wake of King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, had wished for privacy, the American Celebrity News broadcaster TMZ still released a grainy, and arguably pointless, image of Kate driving in an Audi in the Windsor Castle grounds. Kate, adorned with sunglasses and clearly aiming to maintain a low profile, led the British media to reject the use of these photographs, in order to prove their respect to her privacy.
However, things became complicated after the release of a doctored image via the ‘KensingtonRoyal’ account. In line with royal protocol and expectations, official royal accounts released an image showing Kate with her young children, George, Charlotte and Louis, showing them smiling and happy as a celebration of Mother’s Day. However, under the keen eye of X’s most dedicated photoshoppers, this photo was revealed to be a doctored image. As accounted by X user Rukshan Fernando, the signs of alteration in this image pointed to a ‘very poor Photoshop job’, leading to many popular sites removing this image after what Vogue accounts as a ‘kill order’ was given to the image. After The New Yorker regarded this image as ‘too good to be true’, a void of ‘rampant speculation and conspiracy theories’ began to develop. Why was the image doctored? Does a real photograph even exist? What is going on with Kate Middleton?
The fake news surrounding Kate spiralled out of control, from death rumours to divorce, going so far to include Kate as being part of the infamous Glasgow Willy Wonka experience. Avid speculators even believed Kate had a body double, after the Sun published an image showing what was thought to be Kate in a farm shop with Prince William, all for it to be revealed as a professional impersonator. After all this, the outcome was a particularly sad one, with Kate Middleton revealing her cancer diagnosis in a royal announcement video released on 22nd March 2024. The ridiculous speculations and hounding of the royals were all reduced to be the unnecessary harassment of a mother, aiming to affirm her status whilst dealing with a diagnosis.
The Public, the Press and the Royals
The whole situation surrounding Kate Middleton leaves us with one obvious conclusion: the press are still facilitating the harassment and speculation surrounding public figures, no matter what the true story is. But realistically, nothing has actually changed. May it be coincidence that Diana Spencer, also known as the Princess of Wales, faced similar invasive stalking and antagonism by the press, all whilst trying to bring up two young children? Whether the paparazzi led to her untimely death will not ever be confirmed, but as Vanity Fair put it, even in 1998, Diana was “the most hunted person of the modern age”.
In fact, I think Kate’s treatment by the press feels like a woman’s issue. In a time where King Charles, arguably the most important figure in the United Kingdom, was diagnosed with cancer, it was the Princess of Wales who faced notorious scrutiny and overwhelming speculation. Even in a society where women’s stories are massively underrepresented, women are still seen as vulnerable and open to cross-examination. Countless women from Amy Winehouse and Sinead O’Connor who both historically faced abuse by papers to the recent uproar surrounding Meghan Markle reveal the same conclusion: in a perpetually online world, it is far too easy to speculate. The Princess of Wales needed to answer to no one while going through her cancer diagnosis as it was a private matter, however, in the public eye, this sense of respect and boundary means nothing.
Overall, I believe the treatment of Kate lends itself to the wider feelings towards the Royal Family. In fact, the institution of royalty does not stand for much in a modern-day world. In a CNN article from 2023, it was totalled that 36% of UK adults had a negative perspective of the royals in the past 10 years, with the death of Queen Elizabeth II bringing an end to the traditional sense of monarchy that had previously been ever-present. Did anyone truly care why Kate was being quiet, or was it just seen as jumping on a bandwagon to speculate about an institution that has been highly controversial in recent years? Was this simply an opportunity to create some kind of generational feeling towards monarchy?
Nevertheless, the crux of Kate’s situation resides in the fact that a woman, and a mother, deserves some privacy despite her position in the public eye. Whilst she faces such an uncertain few month ahead, the primary position of the general public should be that of support, rather than constant and unfounded speculation.
Bibliography
Image: Duchess of Cambridge at Trooping The Colour Processions 2012, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, no changes were made.
A Timeline Of The Drama - And Conspiracy Theories - Surrounding The Princess Of Wales, Elise Taylor, British Vogue, 2024. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/kate-middleton-conspiracy-theories-timeline
BBC received more than 100 complaints over its ‘excessive and insensitive’ coverage of Kate’s cancer diagnosis, Ed Holt, Mail Online, 2024. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-13278505/bbc-complaints-kate-middleton-cancer-coverage.html
Britons’ support for the monarchy is in long-term decline, suggesting King Charles faces challenges, Jennifer Agiesta, Ariel Edwards-Levy and Sana Noor Haq, CNN World, 2023. Available at:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/05/europe/royals-coronation-polling-britons-intl/index.html
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