The Spire

Mackenzie Hughes ‘25

Serious Investigative Journalist

Over the past few months, the British Royal Family has been going through what the media has labeled “Kate Gate”. The situation features Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, and her glaring absence from the public eye. On January 17th, the Palace put out a statement announcing Middleton had undergone a planned abdominal surgery and would be unlikely to return to her scheduled duties until after Easter. Following her surgery, Prince William, the only member of her immediate family to visit Middleton, is seen in photographs entering the hospital two weeks after her surgery. The Palace released two follow-up statements explaining that Middleton would be returning home and they would only publish significant updates on her health. While these facts are not particularly unusual, the lack of photographic evidence of Middleton is cause for speculation. The U.K. media is notorious for capturing every detail of the Royal Family’s lives, yet there is little to no information surrounding Middleton’s recovery. For example, even though Middleton was photographed only several hours after giving birth to each of her three children, there are no pictures that capture her discharge. Over a month later on February 27th, Prince Williams opted out of a public appearance due to a “personal matter”, which caused a stir in the tabloids. On February 29th, a Spanish reporter claimed that an insider source, expected to be the family’s nanny, revealed that Middleton was in a coma. The Palace immediately commented on this rumor, which only encouraged the reporter to further her claim. This statement from the Palace is highly unusual, as the family rarely makes an effort to debunk rumors. March 4th was the first time Middleton was spotted in photographs, yet they were very low-quality and were published without the permission of the family. 

The Palace finally released a photo of Middleton with her children for the U.K.’s Mother’s Day on March 10th. This gained worldwide attention due to the suspicious, doctored nature of the photo. Online investigations proved that the photo was indeed edited and was largely AI-generated, thus it was pulled from major media outlets. As a response one day later, Middleton stated via the Palace account that she does “occasionally experiment with editing” and “apologies for any confusion”. Middleton’s controversy has received much attention from social media platforms such as TikTok, where users have been posting conspiracy theories concerning her disappearance for nearly four months. Some people have speculated that Middleton was never really in the hospital, she is going through a type of rehab, and some even speculate that she is participating in the show The Masked Singer. These rumors will eventually be confirmed, however potentially not for a while as Middleton has pulled out of engagements as far away as June. Middleton’s alleged return to the limelight is highly anticipated in the coming weeks and will hopefully put an end to the overwhelming unfounded gossip. 

College of the Holy Cross will be holding a candlelight vigil to manifest with crystals and satanic chants the return of the glorious future queen on the next full moon, April 1st, on the Hoval. Please keep her in your prayers!