Prince William is having a hard time seeing his wife, Kate Middleton, being as harshly scrutinized as his late mother, Princess Diana, was, a royal expert claims.
Sunday Times royal editor Roya Nikkhah spoke about the tsunami of conspiracy theories swirling around Middleton’s belly surgery and recovery while appearing on “Good Morning Britain” on Monday.
“Having seen his mother go through all of this, the persecution of his mother, I feel like he feels like he’s seeing parts of that being violated again through begging and yelling at his wife for her medical privacy, and it’s hurting him.” , she opined (via the Daily Mail).
Presenter Susanna Reid asked if the Prince of Wales is “sensitive” to the similarities between his wife and mother, prompting Nikkhah to respond: “He always has been, since he was a child and since he’s been with Catherine since college.
Diana died in 1997, aged 36, in a car accident after being chased by paparazzi.
In the last years of her life, she pleaded for less press scrutiny and more privacy, to no avail.
William’s estranged brother Prince Harry even shared in his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” that for a time he believed his mother had faked her death to avoid the round-the-clock protection of the press.
Middleton, meanwhile, has been under scrutiny since Kensington Palace announced in January that she had undergone a “deliberate” operation and would be out of the spotlight until at least Easter.
The palace said at the time it would only share “essential” health updates about the 42-year-old, rather than regular bulletins.
Social media users began spreading theories about Middleton’s whereabouts after William, 41, suddenly withdrew from attending the funeral of his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, in late February, citing an unknown “private” cause.
Things really escalated when, just a few weeks later, the palace released a poorly Photoshopped photo in honor of Mother’s Day in the UK.
The photo of Middleton surrounded by her three children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 — was immediately dissected by online sleuths.
Royalty’s unmissable extra protection:
Hours later, major information companies issued a “death warning” and removed the portrait from circulation due to its apparent manipulations.
The next day, Middleton issued a rare online apology, explaining that she was experimenting with photo editing.
The princess has only been photographed in public twice since her surgery, although she was in Windsor with her family on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses told the Solar that Middleton and William stopped at a farm stand after watching their children play sports – although no one was able to take a photo of the recovering royal.
“After all the rumors that spread, I was surprised to see them there,” said a spy. “Kate was shopping with William and she seemed happy and well.”