Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, recently expressed his concerns about the rumors circulating regarding Princess Kate Middleton’s recent absence from the public eye.
“I am concerned about where the truth has gone,” Spencer, aged 59, remarked during a preview of his interview set for Sunday, March 17, with the BBC.
Princess Kate, married to Spencer’s nephew Prince William, has been the subject of widespread online speculation since the beginning of the year. In January, Kensington Palace announced that Kate, 42, had successfully undergone planned abdominal surgery. Since then, the Princess of Wales has been recuperating at home, with only a few unclear images of her surfacing earlier this month.
The speculation about Kate’s whereabouts intensified after images of her in a car, taken in March, were suspected to be digitally altered. Nonetheless, Kensington Palace had previously stated that the princess would not make any public appearances until “after Easter.”
Spencer also discussed the current online conspiracies in comparison to the media intrusion that followed his sister Diana’s death. Diana passed away in a tragic car accident in August 1997 in Paris, pursued by paparazzi. She was 36 years old.
“I believe it was more perilous back then,” Spencer shared with the BBC. He reflected on the aftermath of Diana’s death in 1997, suggesting that the incident led those in the paparazzi industry to reconsider their actions, not out of moral judgment but because such behavior had become unacceptable.
Spencer, along with William, 41, and his younger brother, Prince Harry, have openly criticized the media’s alleged involvement in Diana’s fatal accident.
“My mother was constantly harassed after her separation from my father, and it escalated to unprecedented levels. I witnessed, experienced, and learned things,” Harry, 39, stated in an episode of his Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries released in December 2022. He spoke about the challenges faced by women marrying into the royal family and his concerns about finding someone who could handle the pressures that come with being with him.
Kate now holds the title of Princess of Wales, a title once held by Diana following her marriage to King Charles III.
Neither Kensington Palace nor Kate have directly addressed the speculations about her recent public absence. However, Kate did reach out to ease concerns on March 10, during the U.K.’s Mother’s Day, by sharing a photo with her and William’s three children on social media. This action inadvertently sparked further discussion when some news outlets removed the photo after allegations of manipulation by the source.
Kate later acknowledged that she had altered the image. “As many amateur photographers do, I sometimes experiment with editing,” she explained in a statement in March. “I wish to apologize for any confusion caused by the family photograph we shared yesterday. I hope everyone had a joyful Mother’s Day.”