The royal palaces need to "work overtime" to be as "candid and open about absolutely everything that they can be," a British talk show has heard, amid Kate Middleton's extended absence from royal engagements and Prince William's last minute cancellation at the memorial service for his godfather this week.
Speculation on social media as to Kate's whereabouts has grown in recent days, after the princess passed the two-month mark since she was last seen in public on Christmas Day and the announcement that William had pulled out of the memorial service for King Constantine II of Greece only citing a "personal reason."
Kensington Palace said the princess continued to do well following her abdominal surgery on January 16, however it told Newsweek on Thursday that: "As we have been clear since our initial statement in January, we shall not be providing a running commentary or providing daily updates."
The statement at the time of Kate's surgery said she was not expected to return to duties until after Easter (March 31), however there have been no statements in the interim from Kate herself, nor have their been any photographs released.
This, coupled with the palace's refusal to elaborate on the personal reason that caused William to pull out of the memorial service on Tuesday, presents a difficult image for the palace, Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston, highlighted on a new episode of TalkTV's The Royal Tea.
"I think what the palace needs to be really careful of here is that it's starting to look like they're being very secretive about quite a lot of things," he said.
"Now, I'm completely willing to believe that something may well have sprung up in William's life that he has a genuine right to keep private, but the palace I think need to now work overtime to be as candid and open about absolutely everything that they can be candid and open about, and just really assume that you tell everybody what's going on, unless there's a really good reason not to."
When it comes to Kate, the focus on most of the speculation, Royston suggested that much of the social media discourse surrounding her could "go away with one little picture."
In conversation, The Times' royal editor, Kate Mansey, added that: "It's that secrecy, that people feel like they haven't seen her, and the problem with the kind of PR strategy of saying nothing at all is that people try and fill that vacuum on social media and then conspiracy theories abound."
For its part, Kensington Palace has maintained a position that no running commentary on Kate's condition will be shared, but the statements on January 17 and 29 informing the public that her abdominal surgery was "successful" and that she was "making good progress" still stand.
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
