despite a video showing Kate Middleton in shape, rumors persist around her health

The rumor machine continues to run wild in the United Kingdom around the state of health of Kate Middleton.

Tuesday March 19, “Sun” broadcasts a video, shot by a passerby at a market near Windsor. This is the first time since her abdominal operation three months ago that the future queen has appeared in public. Smiling and cheerful, a pair of sneakers on her feet, she walks with her husband, while carrying a shopping bag. In short, she is in great shape.

Enough, normally, to silence the wildest rumors that have been circulating for three months due to lack of official communication and images. Visibly relieved, an anonymous source at Kensington Palace told a reporter from Telegraph : “Everyone will finally be able to calm down“…

The machine is racing

However, several commentators, including an American television host, Andy Cohen, assure that in the video it is not Kate, but her double. The image is analyzed from every angle, its veracity is questioned. The machine has run amok and no one can stop it. The royal family finds itself unable to regain control of the official narrative.

“A few years ago, almost no one would have thought of examining even the slightest pixel of an official image.“, notes the weekly The Observer. But in 2024, when you are a member of the British royal family, you cannot disappear for three months without restarting the conspiracy theorists. “In 2024, with crucial elections taking place around the world, including in the UK, we are in a different space-time“where the battle of “fake news” took up an inordinate amount of space.

At least two retouched photos

This was already seen on March 10, when the palace published a photo of Kate surrounded by her children. Here too, the failure is total. We discover that the photo has been the subject of numerous retouching. Several press agencies are removing it from their catalog. Kate Middleton accepts it, she says she tried image processing, but the gossip starts again. The Windsors definitely have things to hide! Especially since another photo published last year is in turn suspected of having been modified before being made public.

If the royal family has more or less succeeded in controlling the tabloid press, it must today face an even more Machiavellian adversary, the social networks, whose attacks also come from abroad. On Monday, a false document announcing the death of King Charles was distributed on a Telegram account with 2.3 million subscribers and taken up by Russian media. Buckingham Palace, which has a policy of maintaining a dignified silence in the face of rumors, was again forced to react, saying that the king was doing well. The consequence, decides the magazine Timeis that this permanent questioning of reality “weakens public confidence in the monarchy“.

The British and the world will perhaps be reassured when the Princess of Cambridge returns to her official obligations, normally on April 17, after the Easter holidays.