The Princess of Wales could simply be “chilling” as conspiracy theories circulate about her health and family life while she waits to return to public life after Easter, Bethenny Frankel suggested, weighing in on the royal speculation that has had social media users asking: “Where is Kate Middleton?”
Kate has become one of the most talked about public figures in the world since it was announced she had undergone “abdominal surgery” in January that necessitated a significant period of recuperation away from royal duties.
In the absence of regular updates from Kensington Palace about her health, a scandal was sparked by an edited official portrait and unclear photos from sightings in cars, and speculation as to the princess’ whereabouts and state of health have grown online.
According to Google Trends data, Kate has become one of the most searched for names on the internet, being searched on average by U.S. Google users over nine times more than President Joe Biden over the past seven days, and six times more than Donald Trump.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images/Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Former Real Housewives of New York star Frankel has now shared her thoughts on Kate and the speculation in a video to the star’s 1.6 million TikTok followers.
“What if Kate Middleton’s home chilling, recovering, and she’s in the ‘don’t complain, don’t explain’ family?,” she said, referencing the unofficial motto attributed to the British royals, in an apparent dismissal of the conspiracy theories circulating online.
“So, yes, they did have to address the photo that was botched. But maybe that’s happened before, and they’re like, yeah, ‘we said in the morning meeting we’ll be back at Easter, so we’ll be back at Easter.'”
This references both the photo scandal that saw Kate apologize for digitally manipulating a portrait of herself and her three children released to mark Mother’s Day on March 10, and also Kensington Palace’s initial timeline for her estimated return to work.
In a statement announcing the royal’s surgery, which was issued on January 17, the palace said: “Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to The London Clinic yesterday for planned abdominal surgery. The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for 10 to 14 days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
This guidance has, so far, not been updated, meaning fans will not expect to see Kate until at least March 31 or later.
“Whatever is going on in their personal lives,” Frankel added, “health wise or family wise, is their own business.”
Newsweek approached Kensington Palace via email for comment.
Captioned “How stupid will everyone feel if they’re like HI!” the video posted on March 17 has been viewed over 200,000 times and received in excess of 7,000 likes and over 500 comments.
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.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.