Kate Middleton’s First Sighting Post-Surgery Might Prove the Royal Family Are Done With the Rumors

After social media reached a fever pitch last week with the #WhereIsKate hashtag, the royal family likely made a move to keep everyone quiet— at least for now. On Monday, a grainy snapshot of Kate Middleton suddenly surfaced, and the timing sure does feel coincidental. 

The image showed the Princess of Wales wearing a dark pair of sunglasses in the passenger seat as she was driven in the car by her mother, Carole Middleton. (You can see the photo HERE.) TMZ noted that they were driving “near Windsor Castle” and that it was the first sighting of the royal in public since Dec. 25, 2023. The outlet also mentioned that there were no other family members or security seen nearby, which seemed unusual if the mother and daughter were headed off the grounds of Windsor. 

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Royal watchers were quick to notice that Backgrid, the news photo agency that has a reputation for allegedly working with celebrities to stage photos, was the photographer of note. Given the situation the royal family has been in for over two months now, this feels like a “proof of life photo” to some fans – and naturally, social media has some thoughts. “Patiently waiting for the people who claim that Meghan Markle calls the paps on herself to do the same about Kate Middleton finally being seen via a photo by BACKGRID, coincidentally after the public created conspiracy theories. Seems her PR team is paying attention,” wrote one X user. Another account chimed in, “So the Royals had to call Backgrid to stop the crazy rumours? The Internet is wild.”

It’s going to be really hard for the royal family to win this PR war because they let over two months pass before they tried to take control of it. Let’s just say, the train left the station a long time ago. We also hope Kate wasn’t dragged out of bed for a photo call and that she and her mother had somewhere to go on the sunny U.K. day. She deserves a peaceful recovery from her abdominal surgery and perhaps the rest of her communications during her medical leave can be via a personal statement now that everyone knows she is OK. 

Prince William and Kate chose to follow Queen Elizabeth’s mantra of “Never complain, never explain,” but it didn’t work in this situation. With King Charles III going through his own health battles very openly, it’s time that both palaces are “aligned in their approach.” As one former palace aide told The Telegraph. “At the moment, one palace never explains, the other is always explaining.”

Before you go, click here to see all of Kate Middleton’s best hair looks as a royal.