Why Kate Middleton's Appeal for Peace Won't Work

The Princess of Wales' desire to take time out of the public spotlight to recover from her recent surgery in peace echoes a similar plea made by Princess Diana in the 1990s, one that was ultimately denied to her by the press and public, royal biographer and former editor of Vanity Fair, Tina Brown, has claimed.

Brown appeared on CBS Mornings with Gayle King on Tuesday as a social media storm raged over Kate's admission that she had edited her first official portrait since undergoing abdominal surgery in January.

The portrait, released to mark Mother's Day in Britain on Sunday, was pulled from the image libraries of some of the world's leading picture agencies after critics highlighted evidence of image manipulation within the frame. A day after it was posted to the royal's social media channels, Kate admitted to "occasionally" experimenting with "editing" and apologized for any "confusion" caused.

The photo drama has heightened speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding the princess, her health and whereabouts as she passed the two month point since her last official public appearance, and her surgery for an unknown abdominal issue at the start of the year.

Since her surgery, Kate has remained out of the public eye, with Kensington Palace refusing to provide a "running commentary" on her recovery. A statement at the time of the surgery said that though Kate "appreciates the interest" it would generate, she "hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private."

"Kensington Palace will, therefore, only provide updates on Her Royal Highness' progress when there is significant new information to share," the statement added.

This strategy is one that just won't work for an extended period of time, Brown told CBS Mornings, and it's one that Kate's mother-in-law, Princess Diana, learned was unsuccessful in 1993.

"I think that they're flailing and that we now need to have a new PR person come into the palace and start having a strategy about these issues," she said following the recent photography scandal.

"I think this whole idea really that you can completely disappear, it just doesn't work. It didn't work in Diana's day. In fact, this whole thing has reminded me so much of the 1993 speech that Diana made when she came out at a charity and she asked the public to give her time and space...and she said 'I knew there was going to be scrutiny when I took on this role but I had no idea what it was going to be like.' I sort of feel we're heading that way a bit for Kate."

Diana's groundbreaking 1993 speech was made in the months after her formal separation from King Charles III (at the time Prince of Wales) was announced. In it she revealed her intention to step away from her official work to essentially become a private citizen in an attempt to remove the press interest in her private life.

"When I started my public life, 12 years ago," the princess said. "I understood the media might be interested in what I did. I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives.

"But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become. Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner, that's been hard to bear. At the end of this year, when I've completed my diary of official engagements, I will be reducing the extent of the public life I've lead so far."

Popular novelist Lord Jeffrey Archer, who accompanied the princess to the event, previously told Newsweek that the audience and media in attendance were "so stunned by what had happened."

The overall effect Diana's statement had on the interest in her public and private lives was counterproductive, and she became an increased subject of fascination and speculation as her marriage from Charles continued towards divorce in 1996, just a year before her untimely death caused by a Paris car crash while she was being chased by photographers.

Where Kate's appeal for privacy echoes Diana's, Brown suggested, the public, as well as the media, will be unlikely to give up their fascination with her.

"I do think she clearly feels ill and depleted and she wants this time," the former magazine editor said of the royal.

"But I also think, you know, that there's been so much strain and stress on her, she's trying to say 'can I just recover quietly and in peace?' just like Diana tried and they won't let you do it. They won't let you do it."

Newsweek approached Kensington Palace via email for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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