Okay , I'm just going to say it... where is Kate Middleton?

[Tuesdayalready]

(or for the MN purists, Catherine) The most high profile and popular member of royal family has not been seen since Christmas. I do think it's quite strange and so many rumours from the foreign press. And before anyone starts jumping down my throat about her having hysterectomy / crohns / ad infimum / I've had both a hysterotomy and half my intestine removed and was back in work within a 8 weeks.

A key theory gaining traction is that the pap shot was set up by their PR in response to the speculations. Would explain why she's wearing dark sunglasses and Carole isn't. It gives the media what they want without the official PR team deigning to break their vow of silence until Easter.

Still feel she was badly let down by the PR reps. The first image being a pap shot makes the entire thing so distasteful and reminiscent of Diana. It's also already been Photoshopped into oblivion on X already. If their PR just gave a single update or personal statement when the speculations were reaching frenzy level, it would have deescalated the situation and still let them control the narrative.

And this is why the paparazzi still exist and still harass, lie in wait, use extremely long lens etc. Shame on all those who choose to publish

Poor woman

If their PR just gave a single update or personal statement when the speculations were reaching frenzy level, it would have deescalated the situation and still let them control the narrative

I think that's completely fanciful. Feeding the beast makes it bigger and stronger

They gave an update. She's doing well.

If their PR just gave a single update or personal statement when the speculations were reaching frenzy level, it would have deescalated the situation and still let them control the narrative

Oh give over would it. It would be picked over, scrutinised and disbelieved. They've said she's had surgery and she won't be back working until April. They repeated this and said thanks for the well wishes. There's nothing more to say.

People need to take responsibility for their own frothing and not argue it's warranted.

Poor bloody woman indeed.

It's a complete mess on the PR front. Neither Carole nor Kate look happy at all. That picture is not going to convince anyone that there's no divorce in the offing.

@ToffeeTalk - so you can tell if a couple are about to divorce from a grainy picture of one of them with her mother in a car?!

You can tell the general vibe isn't upbeat.

Divorce seems the most plausible of the options.

Carole genuinely seems like a decent mum.

Do you normally drive around with a broad grin on your face?

The only people who think a divorce is imminent are the Twitter squad.

Of course I have no clue what's going on in a stranger's marriage but if they are on the brink of divorce we're going to find out soon enough, aren't we? Not sure what difference it would make if they were grinning like clowns in a candid photo.

It might not be PR. A lot of the streets in Windsor are public but I feel like this is PR to shut the media up

I feel terrible for her. Neither of them look happy. The photos are very exploitative to me.

If it is PR, I'm so disappointed that KP or BP caved to the Twitter mob and the media. They should've waited until her actual return

I feel like this is only going to make the conspiracy theories worse because the timing isn't great

A picture of someone sitting in car can't convince you of any number of things that have no basis in reality.

It doesn't prove that Carol is secretly a belly dancer in her spare time
It doesn't prove that Kate likes to make papier-mache dolls of her enemies
It doesn't prove that Kate and Carol just ate a curry at a strip club

The only people talking about divorce are crazy sussex squad loons on Twitter. There's absolutely no need for any 'proof' of anything connected to her marital status.

Fingers crossed it stops some of the outlandish - she's in a coma / dead nonsense but I'm not holding my breath.

Have you been at the gin again?

The "general vibe isn't upbeat"? What on earth does that mean?
Why does someone not smiling mean they're divorcing?!

I don't drink gin. Your post is rude.

Honestly, @wordler , I genuinely wonder what has happened to some people's ability to think critically.

Hopefully she is well on the road to recovery

It means that they both look very grim indeed. Not chatting, stony expressions, Kate's sunglases. All those things = downbeat vibe.

Not hard to comprehend, tbh.

What's hard to comprehend is that you suggest it means a divorce.
You can look serious and wear sunglasses and not have marital problems.
How hard is that to comprehend?

I'm sure almost no-one believes that Kate is dead or in a coma. That something is very wrong with the marriage is not only much more plausible but objectively very plausible.

How on earth is it objectively very plausible?

I know! I read some of the threads where people are upset because work colleagues are saying horrible things behind their backs and wonder where all these offices are with these oddballs who make stuff up about their colleagues.

But clearly there are people who cannot stop themselves from spiraling into weird fantasy scenarios about other people when things don't match exactly their own life experiences.

Maybe the Princess is in pain? She’s had abdominal surgery in case you hadn’t heard 🙄. Can’t be very comfortable for her in a car. More likely than her face rqmdomly giving away the state of her marriage. Not hard to comprehend tbh

I would hazard a guess the parents, guardians & nannies at the school gates in Lambrook know exactly what is going on!

Can't the woman just have been through a major surgery as reported? Perhaps that's why her mother is driving