Kate Middleton and Kensington Palace are facing a key opportunity to tackle rampant social media speculation and paparazzi interest following the royal's abdominal surgery in January, a British news show has heard.
On Monday, U.S. gossip site TMZ published the first photo of Kate since her "planned abdominal surgery" back in January and over two months since her last public appearance on Christmas Day.
The photo—showing the princess in the passenger seat of a car driven by her mother and wearing dark glasses—was taken by a member of the paparazzi near Windsor Castle and is a move the palace will not welcome as they have fiercely defended the royal's right to privacy during her surgery recovery.
Kensington Palace's reluctance to comment on Kate's health has, over the past two weeks, fanned the flames of conspiracy theories and online conjecture, ranging from claims that the princess was "missing" to medical speculation.
Now, as Britain prepares to celebrate Mother's Day on March 10, it presents an opportunity to "get on top" of the narrative that has run away from them and reassure the public that everything is ok, Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston, told Sky News on Tuesday.
The time for an official photo of Kate being released has become more crucial as the paparazzi interest in the princess has grown, Royston explained.
"They should have done it last week," he said. "As soon as this took off on social media with it all over Twitter last week. As soon as that happened, they should have just ripped the plaster off, done a nice little video that Kate could have recorded herself, or William could have recorded it for her, just showing people that she's OK and then that suffocates the demand. You know, the economy of paparazzi photography is all around trying to gain access when you are denied that access."
Sky News anchor Kay Burley suggested that this upcoming Sunday would provide a "massive opportunity" to do something like this with "it being Mother's Day."
"[We've] been wondering quite a long time whether that might be the moment that they were planning to do something," Royston said. "I definitely think that they should now if they weren't already. They need to get on top of this, because it's already out of control."
Per Kensington Palace's initial statement regarding Kate's surgery issued on January 17, they will only be providing updates on her recovery if there is significant new information to share.
The princess is not expected to return to the public eye until "after Easter," this means that fans will not expect to see her for at least another month. At the time, Kate's surgery was said to have been "successful" and since then, the palace have said she is "making good progress" and continuing to do well.
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.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
