For weeks, rumors have abounded over the whereabouts and overall health of Kate Middleton (more formally known as Catherine, Princess of Wales), who until the publication of a recent paparazzi photo hadn’t been seen in public since attending a Christmas Day church service with family. Kensington Palace—which represents the Prince and Princess of Wales—announced that the royal had undergone a planned abdominal surgery on Jan. 17 and would not return to public duties until after Easter. A drip-feed of information followed: on Feb. 27, the Palace issued a statement that William would unexpectedly pull out of a memorial service for his godfather, the late King Constantine of Greece, due to a “personal matter,” without elaborating further. These moves only intensified the curiosity of the public, which in the absence of new information, began to invent some theories of their own, ranging from the whimsical (perhaps she’s waiting for a disastrous haircut to grow out?) to the absurd (could she be recovering from a Brazilian Butt Lift, or BBL, procedure?).
On Sunday, Kensington Palace released a photo of the Princess of Wales and her children to mark Mother’s Day in Britain—a rather standard affair for the Windsors (who regularly post family photos taken by Kate, an amateur photographer, to mark holidays and special occasions), and one that they perhaps had hoped would quell some of the online concern. But it only did the opposite. Before long, eagle-eyed users began to notice some irregularities that suggested the image had been altered, such as a missing part of her daughter Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and Kate’s mysteriously blurred right hand. Later that day, international news agencies including the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France Press, and Getty all took the rare decision to remove the photo from circulation, citing its apparent manipulation. That Kensington Palace failed to respond by Sunday night only added fuel to the fire. By the…
