Princess Kate Middleton has been absent from the public eye since ​December 2023 when she was seen with other members of the royal family as they attended the Christmas Day service at Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Norfolk. ​Since then, conspiracy theories about her absence have run wild but a ​royal rep is responding to the speculation.

A spokesperson for the Princess brushed off social media speculation saying, “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.”

He reiterated the Princess is “doing well.”

On January 17, palace officials announced that Kate had undergone a “planned abdominal surgery” the day before that required a two-week hospital stay. After that, Kate was due to continue her recovery at home and officials believed she would return to her duties sometime near Easter. While few other details have been released, reps have said that the issue was “noncancerous.”

However, her lack of public appearances have caused speculation that something more serious isn’t being disclosed. An X user pointed out that the official announcement said that she would “postpone public engagements,” but wondered why she would have any events scheduled during her recovery time if the surgery was planned. Other conspiracy theories suggested something more nefarious at play.

“I just can’t think of a rational reason why they wouldn’t have released a photograph of Kate Middleton by now outside of they literally cannot,” one user wrote on X on Tuesday, February 27.

Spanish journalist Concha Calleja said that she had “spoken to an aide from the Royal Household in a completely off-the-record manner” and Kate’s life “was in great danger,” during her TV show Fiesta.

Kate Middleton wearing a navy ensemble with a red broach and black hat
Max Mumby / Getty Images

“The decision was to put her in an induced coma. They had to intubate her,” Concha, 59, said. “There were serious complications that they didn’t expect because the operation went well, but the postoperative period didn’t go so well.”

However, Kate’s representatives adamantly refuted the claim, calling it “ludicrous and not fact-checked by Kensington Palace.”

People reported on February 2, that palace also spoke to The Times and said, “It’s total nonsense. No attempt was made by that journalist to fact-check anything that she said with anyone in the household. It’s fundamentally, totally made-up, and I’ll use polite English here: it’s absolutely not the case.”

However, with the internet being the internet, people began to suggest even wilder theories ranging from Kate escaping with Pete Davidson to having undergone plastic surgery for a Brazilian butt lift to a “hide and seek game that got out of hand.”

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