Where is Kate Middleton? This question has dominated social media for weeks, and has fuelled wild theories. New visuals, apparently of the Princess of Wales at a farmer's market, have not exactly cleared doubts.
A photo and video, published by British tabloid The Sun, shows a couple walking at a market in Windsor – it claimed it was a smiling Kate Middleton and her husband Prince William. "Great to see you Kate," said The Sun on Monday evening, alongside what it claimed were the images of the princess - in leggings and a black top.
Great to see (via @TheSun ) Kate laughing and joking with William on their shopping trip. She's obviously recovering well. This should end a lot of the conspiracy theories… pic.twitter.com/UM57fkbXix
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 18, 2024
"I didn't feel like they were hiding who they were. But they didn't quite know how people would react because there has been this build-up about their whereabouts and I got the sense they just wanted to be swift in there," Nelson Silva, who took the video told the Sun.
"Kate looked happy and relaxed. They look happy just to be able to go to a shop and mingle. Kate looked relieved like it was a success going to a shop. It felt natural," he said.
Another newspaper, The Daily Mail, lauded an "image that will silence the conspiracy theorists" and said it "will reassure fans she is making a good recovery from her abdominal surgery".
The new visuals come just a week after furore over the Palace officially releasing edited photos of Kate. They later issued a kill order for the image after several news agencies claimed that the image was morphed.
Kate Middleton, 42, has not been seen in public eye since an abdominal surgery for a non-cancerous but unspecified condition on January 16.
Other than a couple of blurry pictures, she has not been seen since, and in recent weeks social media has been awash with speculation about her health, generating global headlines and rumours.
Instead of calming fears over her health, the edited picture released by Kensington Palace sent the rumour mill into overdrive as media scrambled to pull the picture with a kill notice.
Kate apologised but faced criticism even from usually supportive media.
The new video from the farmer's market too has sparked a debate on social media with eagle-eyed viewers flagging a number of issues with the media. Some said the photo looked too grainy in an era when every phone has a 4k or HD camera.
the royal family: please leave princess kate alone she is recovering from a very serious abdominal surgery
— ari🍉 (@zegleranidala) March 18, 2024
kate outside the farm shop:
pic.twitter.com/RIQCZ5lcOE
Me watching that video of Kate Middleton being spotted knowing good damn well that's not Kate Middleton pic.twitter.com/xinWKgBtYN
— 𝐼𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒱𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 (@TytianaAzarie) March 19, 2024
Me watching that video of Kate Middleton being spotted knowing good damn well that's not Kate Middleton pic.twitter.com/xinWKgBtYN
— 𝐼𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒱𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 (@TytianaAzarie) March 19, 2024
Other conspiracy theorists also felt that the woman snapped was not Kate Middleton, but instead a body double.
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