The hashtag “Where’s Kate?” Social networking sites in Britain for a few days, after increasing question marks about the reason for the continued disappearance of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales and wife of Crown Prince William, following her absence from the scene since the end of last year.

The Royal Palace announced that the princess underwent surgery last January and that she would reappear at the end of this March.

Until a few weeks ago, conditions were normal, and even the press stayed away from news of the princess and understood her health condition, but a series of events brought back the spotlight on her health condition.

Conspiracy theory

The matter developed into the spread of conspiracy theories about the fate of Princess Kate, and social media pioneers worked hard to dig up Kate’s photos and clips to come up with theories about her being subjected to forced disappearance or about the fate of Princess Diana itself.

The Media and Public Relations Department at the British Royal Palace found itself in an unenviable position, after Kensington Palace, which is responsible for publishing news of Crown Prince William and Princess Kate, published a picture of her with her three children on the occasion of Mother’s Day, with a message in which the Princess wishes a happy day to all mothers.

From this moment, the palace’s troubles began, after an examination of the published image showed that it was a composite and not real. The palace immediately published a brief statement attributed to Princess Kate, in which she said that she was “a beginner in the process of compositing images and apologizes for any confusion.”

But this incident opened fire on the media department of the British Royal Palace, to the point that the French news agency described the palace as potentially becoming an unreliable source for reporting news.

Speculation

Indeed, matters got out of the control of this section after this composite image opened the appetite of the British and Western media and social networking sites to ask about the fate of Princess Kate, especially after the British Army withdrew – from its website – an advertisement talking about her attendance at the inauguration of King Charles next June.

This opened the door to speculation that the Princess of Wales will also not appear in the coming months.

Like any conspiracy theory whose source is unknown, yet it spreads like wildfire, and many believe it, social media pioneers have moved to weave theories – especially on the X and TikTok platforms – all of which suggest that the princess was forcibly disappeared.

The promoters of this theory were busy analyzing the last photo that appeared of the princess in a car with her mother, which was published at the beginning of this March, and they said that it was not of Kate, but rather of her likeness.

What made matters worse was the spread of news without any source that the BBC logo was being draped in black on social media sites in preparation for announcing the death of a member of the royal family, and that flags were being flown at half-mast throughout Britain, leading most speculation to expect that These are all preparations to announce the death of Princess Kate.

Silence and leaks

Journalist Elizabeth Holmes, who published a book about the “royal lifestyle,” said in her blog post that “what was happening was somewhat strange,” adding that she had heard from more than one person in her surroundings, who was not interested in the life of the royal family, asking the same question, “Where is Kate?” “, referring to the widespread spread of this question.

The conspiracy theory has spread between those who say that the princess was hidden due to a dispute that broke out with her husband, Prince William, and those who say that she had a stroke and other theories that have found traction on social media.

In the face of this storm of rumors, the Royal Palace chose to remain silent, but it seems that it resorted to leaks, as the Telegraph newspaper, known for its closeness to the royal family, published that it had seen Princess Kate and that she was recovering and her condition seemed fine.

In any mysterious event that occurs within the royal family, talk returns about Princess Diana, Prince William’s mother, and this is what happened this time also in the case of Princess Kate, as many compared the fate of the two princesses to Kate’s mysterious disappearance.

This prompted Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, to come out in an interview with the BBC, to confirm that the press’s treatment of his late sister was more dangerous than its treatment of Princess Kate’s situation, but at the same time he warned of the spread of conspiracy theories that harm the princess. And with it the truth is lost.”