We saw the Princess of Wales appear publicly for the first time since Christmas Day on Monday, riding alongside her mother, Carole Middleton, in what was later determined to be the school run of Kate’s kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis to Lambrook School, where all three attend. Was this sighting—which conspicuously came on the heels of fervent clamor over Kate’s whereabouts—intentional? Royal expert Christopher Andersen doesn’t think so, actually.
“I’ve been asked if [those photos were] staged by the Palace to assuage people’s fears and get rid of all the conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the royal family lately,” Andersen said, speaking to Us Weekly. “And I think it’s quite the opposite. I think if you look at the expression on her face, she was caught unawares and unhappy.”
Andersen added, “It’s amazing to me that the Palace can be so tone deaf about this, not only in the handling of Catherine, but also in the handling of [King Charles] and his medical situation, which is in tandem with this.”
(This is not breaking news, but) In January, it was announced within 90 minutes of each other that Kate had abdominal surgery and would be sidelined from royal duties until April, and that the King would have what was at the time a benign enlarged prostate corrected during a planned procedure. It was during that procedure that cancer was detected, and Charles began treatment on February 5. Both the King and the Princess of Wales have been largely out of the spotlight since, Kate much more so, only being seen one time in 70 days, on the car ride with her mother.
“From the get-go, it was very fishy,” Andersen said of Kate’s recovery period. “You can have open heart surgery and be out in a week. And then months under wraps—what’s going on?”
Andersen is reluctant to point the finger at the royal family members themselves (think Charles, Kate) but rather the Firm: “I don’t know if it’s the royal family I’d blame for this mess,” he said. “That would be the Palace.”
As the weeks go on, Andersen said he thinks updates from royal spokespeople are just making matters “worse and worse” for the royal family. “The last statement they issued was basically rapping everyone on the knuckles for daring to question them [and] didn’t explain anything,” he said. “And yes, they said from the beginning she’d be out of commission, but never why, and I don’t think that’s acceptable, frankly.”
Andersen added that “the British people have a right to know” what’s going on with the princess. “I think they [the Palace] could be a lot more forthright about what her condition was, what the surgery was for, and why she has to be recuperating for such a lengthy period,” he said. “They could have carted her out a couple of times and had her stand on the steps of the Palace or in Windsor or wherever and smile for the cameras and just be her charming self. And I think that would remedy the situation to some extent.”
Royal commentator Hugo Vickers, speaking on GB News (and per OK) agreed that the Palace probably isn’t handling the situation as well as it could be handled. “If I was her press secretary, I would be wanting to tell you something,” he said. “Maybe some really good news when she’s getting better. I don’t know whether it would have been a good idea to have a picture of her sitting in the garden with her children or something.”
That said, although Vickers urged the Palace to let the British people know more about Kate’s condition, he also stressed that the decision by the Firm as to how much to release isn’t that easy. “It’s a [terribly] complicated balance,” Vickers said. “If you feed the media enough, usually they will respect the boundaries. But if you tell them nothing at all, of course they think they’re being deprived of information, and they go into overdrive.”
Fellow royal expert Katie Nicholl added on GB News that Kate is in “no rush” to return to work, and that the Princess of Wales could “talk about her health one day,” but for now is focused on “getting better for her family and for the duties that lie ahead of her.”
