Kate Middleton Reveals She'll Be At "A Few Public Engagements" V Soon

In early 2023, the Internet was entirely focused on solving one strange mystery: Where is Kate Middleton? In late February, royal followers realized that the Princess of Wales had gone completely invisible for a full two months. This led to a deluge of speculation about what caused Middleton to totally disappear from the public eye. Now, Middleton has set the record straight in a video message.

The whole mystery began back in mid-January, when Kensington Palace announced that Middleton had a “planned abdominal surgery” on Jan. 16. The palace did not disclose the nature of the surgery but informed the public that Middleton would recover in the hospital for up to two weeks, before returning home to continue her recovery.

Well, those two weeks came and went... as did six more weeks without an appearance or any update on Middleton. At the end of February, a month and a half after Middleton’s surgery, conspiracy theories started taking over social media. The speculation reached a fever pitch online, prompting Kensington Palace to issue a statement via Harper’s Bazaar on Feb. 29 revealing when Middleton would return to the public sphere: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.”

Middleton’s timeline seemed to get more concrete update in early March. After extremely grainy paparazzi pics of Middleton in a car surfaced online, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Princess of Wales would attend Trooping the Color, a parade scheduled for June 15 this year. However, shortly after the confirmation, the guest list was updated with Middleton’s name removed.

Even stranger, Kensington Palace shared a photo of Middleton and her kids on March 10, but the pic only caused more confusion. The photo was widely accused of being digitally altered, and the next day, Middleton admitted it was edited in a statement from her X (formerly known as Twitter) account: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Middleton wrote. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

On March 18, TMZ shared what may be the first confirmed footage of Middleton: a video of her carrying groceries alongside Prince William. However, the footage still wasn’t totally clear, and theorists began to claim the woman in the video wasn’t actually Middleton.

At long last, the fervor died down when Kensington Palace shared a video message from Middleton on March 22. Middleton shared that she had been diagnosed with cancer following her abdominal surgery in January, and was now in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy.

“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which I am so grateful,” Middleton said.

About three months later, Middleton shared an update on her health. “I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” she wrote in a June 14 Instagram post. “My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months.”

The Princess of Wales went on to confirm she would be making her first public appearance in 2024 very soon, and hopes to make a few more in the coming months. “I’m looking forward to attending The King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer,” she wrote. “But equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet.”

Middleton’s last public appearance was on Dec. 25, 2023, when she attended the Royal Family's Christmas Day service.