The internet has some questions about Kensington Palace's PR strategy following Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis.
On Friday, March 22, the Princess of Wales revealed that she has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments. The bombshell revelation came after weeks of intense public scrutiny following her hospitalization and the release of a digitally altered photograph of the princess.
“'I hope people feel bad.' Actually I hope Kensington Palace’s PR team feels bad, because I feel like you have to try to mess up this badly," one person posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, following Middleton's announcement. "Charles handled the PR around his own cancer diagnosis without a problem."
In January, both Middleton and King Charles were hospitalized for separate health issues.
In the wake of his hospitalization, Buckingham Palace announced that the King was diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer and is pursuing treatment. At the same time, Kensington Palace announced that the Princess of Wales had underwent a planned abdominal surgery and would be stepping away from her royal duties and the public spotlight until after Easter.
In the weeks that followed—and after the palace released a doctored image of the princess—online speculation and a myriad of conspiracy theories about the Middleton's health, wellness, whereabouts and marriage hit a fever pitch. Now, in the wake of her cancer diagnosis, the internet has some thoughts about the royal family's "botched" PR strategy.
"I feel badly for her and her family," one person wrote on X. "But also: what a massive PR screw-up and how positively insane that they threw a woman with cancer under a Photoshop bus, knowing what she was dealing with."
After major news outlets pulled the UK Mother's Day image of Middleton and her three children because it was altered, Kensington Palace released a statement from the princess, who took responsibility for the "confusion."
"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," Middleton said in the written statement, posted on X. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C."
"Maybe you shouldn’t work in PR if you can’t control the narrative around a mother of three young children having cancer," an X user posted.
"Who lets a woman with cancer take the fall for a photoshop disaster like that?" another commented. "My god. It’s horrible."
Prior to Middleton's latest health announcement, Kensington Palace made a series of arguably bizarre PR decisions. In the wake of the botched Mother's Day post, the palace refused to release an unaltered, original image of the princess, claimed she was "working on a special project from home" and pushed back plans for Middleton to appear in public without any explanation.
"Kate Middleton just revealed she has cancer and is undergoing chemo, which makes the palace blaming the photo editing on her even weirder," one person noted on X. "Hopefully she gets better and hopefully their PR learns from this."
"I don’t want to comment on #KateMiddleton’s condition but as a comms/PR person - the pivot to “this is the public’s shame” and “the problem was the conspiracy theories” and not the most unreal PR disaster I’ve ever witnessed from an unreliable/dangerous institution is the point," another wrote.
"I am begging people to understand *we* are not the reason Kate Middleton had to make that video," another person posted. "The disastrous palace PR team is why she had to make that video."
