New Delhi:

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday heaped praise on Kate Middleton, Britain’s Princess of Wales, as she shared a health update on her ongoing cancer treatment.

In a message, Kate said she was “making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days”. She also said she will make her first public appearance on Saturday since surgery revealed the presence of cancer in January.

Responding to her on X, formerly Twitter, Sunak said the Princess of Wales’ statement will be “especially meaningful” to those fighting cancer and their families.

“They will recognise the same struggle in her words and draw hope and inspiration from her strength,” he said.

The Princess of Wales’ statement will be especially meaningful to those who are fighting cancer and for their families.

They will recognise the same struggle in her words and draw hope and inspiration from her strength.

I’m delighted she will be in attendance for His Majesty’s… https://t.co/RBAtvtBjtn

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 14, 2024

“I’m delighted she will be in attendance for His Majesty’s Birthday Parade and I know the whole country is behind her,” Sunak, attending a G7 summit in Italy, added.

Kate Middleton Shares Update On Cancer Treatment

Kate Middleton on Friday said her cancer treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months. She said that she was making good progress as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy but is “not out of the woods”.

The 42-year-old princess also expressed that she had been “blown away” by the thousands of kind messages from across the globe that followed her cancer announcement in March. She said the messages made a “world of difference” to her and her husband Prince William and them through “some of the harder times”.

“I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well,” she said in a lengthy social media post.

She also tagged her picture — taken earlier this week in Windsor, west of London — standing in front of a tree next to a river.

“On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home,” she wrote.

Kate said that she is learning “how to be patient, especially with uncertainty”.

I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months. It really has made the world of difference to William and me and has helped us both through some of the harder times.

I am making good progress, but as anyone going… pic.twitter.com/J1jTlgwRU8

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 14, 2024

“Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much-needed time to heal. Thank you so much for your continued understanding, and to all of you who have so bravely shared your stories with me,” she said.

Kate Middleton’s First Public Appearance In 6 Months

In what would mark her first public appearance in six months, Kate Middleton announced that she will attend King Charles’s annual birthday parade on Saturday with other senior royals.

“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, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet,” she said.

Kate Middleton’s appearance at the annual Trooping the Colour parade for King Charles’s official birthday will be her first public appearance since she was seen gathering with other royals for Christmas in December last year.

She had announced in a video in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer discovered following abdominal surgery.

A message from Catherine, The Princess of Wales pic.twitter.com/5LQT1qGarK

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2024

Her announcement came weeks after King Charles revealed that he was being treated for an unspecified cancer.

(With agency inputs)

London:

The revelation that Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, has cancer prompted a swift backlash over a torrent of lurid social media speculation around her health, including by those positing she was secretly dead. But the somber news has not stopped the seemingly endless churn of conspiracy theories.

Kate Middleton, 42, received an outpouring of global sympathy after her video message on Friday revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy, seeking to put an end to a maelstrom of unfounded claims circulated amid her monthslong absence from public life.

The manipulation of a royal photograph the palace released to the media, as well as the British monarchy’s culture of secrecy, had fueled much of the online speculation.

But the proliferation of evidence-free theories on social media — including posts peppered with skull emojis claiming the princess was dead or in an induced coma — illustrates the new normal of information chaos in an age of artificial intelligence and misinformation that has warped public understanding of reality.

The speculation took a serious turn last week when the British police were asked to probe a reported attempt to access her confidential medical records.

“Kate has effectively been bullied into this statement,” writer Helen Lewis wrote in US magazine the Atlantic.

“The alternative — a wildfire of gossip and conspiracy theories — was worse.”

Britain’s Daily Mail tabloid also lashed out, asking: “How do all those vile online trolls feel now?”

If social media posts are to be believed, they are not too sorry.

‘Cruel grifters’

Many on X, formerly Twitter, and TikTok claimed Kate Middleton’s video message was an AI-enabled deepfake.

Some users posted slowed down versions of the video to support the baseless claim that it was digitally manipulated, asking why nothing in the background — a leaf or blade of grass — moved.

Others scrutinized her facial movements and speculated why a dimple, as seen in previous images, wasn’t visible.

“Sorry House of Windsor, Kate Middleton (and) legacy media — I’m still not buying what you’re selling,” said one post on X.

“Actually not sorry – you’ve all read ‘The Little Boy That Cried Wolf’ right?”

And then there was misinformation about cancer itself, with posts falsely claiming that the disease was not fatal while comparing chemotherapy with “poison.”

And how could anti-vaccine campaigners be left behind?

Many of them jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon, baselessly linking Kate’s diagnosis to “turbo cancer,” a myth linked to Covid-19 vaccines that has been repeatedly debunked.

“There is no evidence to support the ‘turbo cancer’ lie,” said Timothy Caulfield, a misinformation expert from the University of Alberta in Canada.

Conspiracy theorists “are cruel grifters marketing fear (and) misinformation,” he added.

‘Seed of doubt’

The proliferation of wild theories highlights how facts are increasingly under scrutiny on a misinformation-filled internet landscape, an issue exacerbated by public distrust of institutions and traditional media.

The same distrust, researchers say, has tainted online conversations about serious issues, including elections, climate and health care.

“People don’t trust what they are seeing and reading,” Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, told AFP.

“Once a seed of doubt has been sown, and people lose trust, conspiracy theories are able to gain traction.”

The rumor mill surrounding Kate Middleton spiraled since she retreated from public life after attending a Christmas Day church service and undergoing abdominal surgery in January.

Conspiracy theories exploded after the princess admitted to editing a Mother’s Day family portrait, a move that prompted news agencies including AFP to withdraw it.

Conspiracy theorists went down a new rabbit hole when a subsequent video emerged showing Kate strolling in a market with her husband, baselessly asserting that she had been replaced by a body double.

“When it comes to an institution as old and opaque as the royal family, public distrust creates an appetite for a lot of sleuthing,” Dannagal Young, from the University of Delaware, told AFP.

Social media hashtags about the princess gained such virality that many users began using them to promote unrelated posts about topics that receive far less traction, including human rights abuses in India and the Middle East.

What made the frenzy worse, researchers say, was a culture of royal secrecy and the seemingly botched PR strategy of the palace.

“To be honest, the palace could have nipped the situation in the bud much earlier,” Douglas said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Amid speculation surrounding her months of public absence, the Princess of Wales, Catherine, is likely to address her health concerns at a public event.

Catherine, who is widely known by her maiden name of Kate Middleton, may discuss her recovery during her public engagements, the UK newspaper The Times reported on Saturday.

“I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements. If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it,” a royal source told The Times.

“I would expect that to be her instinct and it will be her call. They’re not going to be rushed,” the source was quoted as saying by the daily newspaper.

Kate and her husband, Prince William, are also expected to uphold the annual tradition of releasing a new photograph marking their children’s birthdays. Their youngest, Prince Louis, will turn six on April 23.

Kate Middleton Not Seen Since Abdominal Surgery

Kate Middleton, 42, has not been seen in public since undergoing abdominal surgery in January, fuelling speculation about her health.

An announcement on January 17 by the Kensington Palace office said that the Princess of Wales was admitted to The London Clinic on January 16 for a “planned abdominal surgery”.

The surgery had been successful, it added, and Kate was expected to remain in hospital for 10 to 14 days.

Based on medical advice at the time, the princess was “unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter” on March 31, the palace said

“She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible and her wish that her personal medical information remains private,” the statement added.

The palace said later the health concern was not related to cancer.

Kensington Palace Shares Kate Middleton’s “Altered” Picture

In a bid to dispel the rumours around her health, Kensington Palace shared an official photograph of Kate Middleton with her children on March 10.

The photograph, taken by William showed Kate smiling and looking healthy surrounded by Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.

“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” the palace issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter), signed by “C” for Catherine. “Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”

Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months.

Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. C

The Prince of Wales, 2024 pic.twitter.com/6DywGBpLLQ

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 10, 2024

The picture attracted huge media attention as it was her first official photograph since she spent two weeks in hospital after the surgery.

However, various leading news agencies said that it was an “altered” picture and withdrew the image.

Following social media backlash, Kate Middleton apologized and admitted to editing the photograph.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the palace issued another statement, signed by “C”. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024

The episode has since then heightened speculation about Kate’s current health condition.

(With agency inputs)