In the last few weeks of early 2024, the Royal Family has dealt with an avalanche of rumors centered around King Charles’ cancer diagnosis and specifically focused on Kate Middleton’s abdominal surgery. Seeing as the sporadic and formal updates about her recovery did little to stymie the gossip mill, an official picture of the Princess of Wales has been posted… only to trigger a whole new batch of speculations.
The United Kingdom celebrates Mother’s Day on March 10 and so, Kensington Palace posted an image wherein Kate is seen sitting on a chair with a happy smile in place as she is hugged by Prince George while holding Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The cheerful picture of Kate with her children was taken by Prince William in Windsor earlier this week, as shared by a palace spokesman.
The picture is clearly here to accomplish three tasks:
- To wish the public a Happy Mother’s Day from the palace.
- To give further updates about Kate’s recovery while making it clear that it comes directly from her (the post is signed with a “C,” for Catherine).
- And of course, to dash away the rumors about her health that had only gained more hype after a grainy picture of the princess was captured by the paparazzi a few days ago.
But the picture seems to have only added to the vicious cycle of conspiracy theories as overly-curious minds couldn’t help but notice that Kate is not wearing her wedding and engagement rings. And just like that, the agenda of the social media post was effectively ruined.
So, now, the “consensus” is jumping from absolute certainty that the absence of the rings means the speculations of divorce were correct to detailed dissections of the picture being fake, doctored, or just old. As highlighted by many theorists, they are just not ready to “buy it” that all is hunky dory with the Princess of Wales.
Why is Kate Middleton not wearing her wedding and engagement rings in first picture post-surgery?
Before you join the rumor train, it would be prudent to acknowledge that this is not the first time Kate has been snapped without her rings — she has been seen without her precious jewels during a few royal visits to hospitals for health and safety reasons. She also leaves them behind when there is a risk of her Welsh gold wedding ring and her engagement ring (that was once worn by Princess Diana) sustaining damage or getting lost i.e., when she takes part in sporting events, like the Commonwealth Games swimming trials in August 2022.
And if the lure of rumors hasn’t swayed you yet, it would be a good idea to realize that Kate has a perfectly good reason to not wear the rings now either — she is recovering and/or wearing the rings is not comfortable with the after-effects of the surgery. The picture shows her in a relaxed setting, not wearing just the rings but no other piece of jewelry either. A palace source (via Town and Country Mag)has also answered the query about the missing rings by highlighting the fact that when the picture was taken, Kate was at home.
Will that quell the rising tide of brand-new rumours? Nope. The picture has evidently backfired, bringing more questions to the palace’s doorsteps and barely answering the existing mysteries.
