It was not on my March bingo card that I’d write three editions on Kate Middleton, but I also did not anticipate that the Princess of Wales taking some time out to deal with a health issue would become a radicalising event for vast swathes of people.
I wish I was being hyperbolic. I am actually quite serious. Conspiracy thinking took off in the pandemic, but it’s Kategate that has pushed it from the fringes to the mainstream, especially in America. And that should worry us all.
Before we get into how we got here and why it matters, I should make clear my position to the Kate Truthers out there. I believe that the princess has had surgery, is recuperating and is closely guarding her privacy. I think this because it is the most plausible explanation, and because it’s also the opinion of many journalists I know and trust, who are more informed than I am about the situation. A handful of them say the same thing. The princess was treated for an “abdominal” issue and is taking time to recover. They also understand why she may be particularly sensitive to being photographed in public following the procedure.
If journalists know what’s happening with Kate then why are they not reporting it, you may ask? Firstly, they can not verify the facts as Kate and her team are not confirming or denying her medical condition - or much - on the record. Secondly, Kate does not want the public to know her health information and any outlet who shared such details would destroy any relationship they had with the royals and likely face significant backlash from the British public, who, by and large, adore the princess.
So with few updates from Kate and her team, and little reporting possible from journalists, we are stuck in an information vacuum, and this week we reached a new level of crazy after a video showing Kate grocery shopping with her husband William was published by The Sun and TMZ.
Minutes after the video dropped conspiracy theorists, mainly on TikTok and X/Twitter, claimed that it was not Kate in the video and that she was being played by a body double. One “unblurred” a still image from the video to create the picture at the top of this post. Even those that did believe that ‘real Kate’ was captured questioned whether she’d had “abdominal surgery” at all if she was able to carry a shopping bag, while others wondered why she was not back at work if she was able to walk to a shop.
And then trusted public figures joined the conspiratorial party. Some of the most followed accounts on social media cast doubt on the video, or amplified the claim that Kate is “missing”.
Bravo host Andy Cohen tweeted “That ain’t Kate” to his 2.4 million followers, and actress Sarah Paulson, who has 1.1 million followers, replied “FACTUAL”.
Kim Kardashian, who has 364 million followers, posted a slideshow of pictures of herself to Instagram with the caption: “On my way to go find Kate”.
Fever pitch was reached. Again. Let’s take a look at our old friend Google Trends to prove the point…
While I didn’t expect the ‘proof of life’ shopping video to halt the rumour mill, I was surprised by how much it kicked the truthers into a higher gear. Rather than calm, it created more chaos. It vividly showed that once a narrative is out of control everything - even the truth - acts as fuel.
We got here mainly because of the palace’s ‘never explain’ PR strategy, and that catastrophic decision to release a doctored image of Kate and her children on Mother’s Day. Up until that point the conspiracy theories were confined to a relatively small audience. After THAT PICTURE millions grew suspicious and started to question everything. They were particularly susceptible to a conspiracy because they had just been deceived by a shambolic Photoshop job.
The fake family picture drama also made the story of interest to people far beyond the usual royal watcher crowd. A video from creator and beauty brand founder KJ Miller best explains this point.
She says: “This is how I know that the royal family is completely effing up when it comes to Kate Middleton. My group chat of seven black women… is blowing up with the Kate Middleton conspiracy theories. I have never spoken about that woman. I've never cared about that woman… but right now I'm invested. And so are all of my black girlfriends.
“What that tells me is that if we're invested, every corner of the earth is invested.”
Commentators on KJ’s video confirm her theory…
On top of the fake photo and a new audience unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of the royals there is another factor… American culture. It’s my view that the vast majority of British people accept that Kate is alive, and while skeptical following the bungled family photo, they don’t believe the wilder claims of a plot. But Americans are not buying it. Any of it.
The U.S. media, with its liberal approach to free speech, is not quelling the hysteria either. Stephen Colbert’s monologue which was dedicated to rumours of Prince William having an affair would never have been aired in Britain for example.
Maybe Americans are more suspicious - we already know that confidence in major U.S. institutions is at an all time low. Maybe there’s less deference to the royals, or maybe Americans view them as absurd (in 2024 it is hard to argue that monarchy is not) and so it’s easy to believe something fantastical about their highnesses.
The end result is that millions of people are now deeply immersed in and believe wild conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton. That’s significant on its own but it’s even more concerning that they were drawn to the conspiracy from the get go. For many it was their entry point. To me that signals a concerning rise in conspiratorial thinking.
I said in my first piece on the Kate drama that it was a good thing that audiences were more skeptical then ever. But maybe I over estimated how skeptical people are about the motivations of those who spread conspiracy theories on platforms like TikTok and X/Twitter.
In the past week I’ve seen some serious grift from creators - established and new - who are leaning into the Katespiracy craze to get clout, views and, in some cases, profit. Platforms like TikTok and X/Twitter have made it tempting for creators to turn to trending subjects because those posts get more visibility in feeds and can often go viral. Couple that with scant moderation of conspiracy theory content on either platform and it easily explains the flood of speculation.
Kate’s immense privilege makes her an unlikely candidate for sympathy but social media frenzies can cause enormous damage to the people who are engulfed by them. And we have seen how the online fervour may have influenced offline behaviour after three people were suspended for allegedly accessing the princess’ medical records while she was a patient at The London Clinic.
It’s easy to point at creators and platforms but consumers share some responsibility too. I’ve thought about this idea a lot after listening to journalist Ezra Klein on the
podcast. Klein was discussing the future of mass media after a wave of shutterings but his comments are relevant to social content too.He said: “We have come to see what we do online as morally neutral with the only moral decisions being made by the providers of the content.
“Over time one of the things that we are going to have to discover is an identity of ourselves as generators of the internet not consumers of the internet.
“On a small level every time you read one thing over another or watch or listen to or spend time on you are creating more of that thing and less of other things.”
For as long as the incentives remain to create conspiracy theories they will thrive, so taking Klein’s theory on board maybe we need to become more sophisticated consumers of them, or at the very least be as skeptical about the creator of them as we are about the subject of them.
Why do you think so many people have become Kate Truthers? Share your conspiracy theory thoughts in the comments below…
Bryan with a y’s wife knows he’s on dating sites, and is OK with it
The previous edition about social snitches covered the story of “Bryan with a y” who was exposed by self-styled sleuth Samantha Marks for trying to cheat on his wife by downloading the dating app Hinge and making a profile as he sat next to her on a flight.
Marks provided a final update on Tuesday, after highly flammable published, where she spilled what she’d discovered from two of Bryan’s acquaintances.
After invading his privacy a bit more by talking about his work and family she revealed that Bryan’s wife was aware that he flirted with women on dating apps long before Marks outed him on TikTok.
Marks said: “From what I can tell she’s fine with it and it’s being handled, or not, privately.”
“I was trying to help a woman find out the truth about her husband but if she’s OK with it that’s her choice and it is what it is.”
Marks is unrepentant about her sleuthing and is even trying to turn it into a recurring series by launching a series called Hot Goss where she says she’ll share more secrets sent to her from viewers. Let’s hope she actually uncovers a scandal the next time.
This week I’ve been…
OBSESSING OVER: The deep, rich oxblood colour formerly know as “Gucci Rosso”. If I had £790/$995 to spend on shoes I would do so on these slingbacks
READING: Every word of the heavily researched The Smartphone Kids Are Not All Right by Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic
BUYING: This butter soft Cos pouch bag that multitasks as a cross body and a clutch. My decision to purchase was pleasingly affirmed by
who flagged it in a recent post.highly flammable is produced and written by Rachel Richardson. She’s a content creator, commentator and consultant at Beginning, Middle and End. Want more? Check out Threads, Twitter/X and Instagram.