The British Royal Family has a long history with scandals, some they’ve addressed head on, and others that have continued to be rumours.
If you’ve been anywhere on the internet over the last few weeks, you’ve probably noticed the absolute chaos that has erupted over Kate Middleton, aka the Princess of Wales.
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It all started when Kensington Palace announced that Kate was admitted to a London hospital for surgery in January 2024, after her last public outing on Dec. 25, 2023. The palace noted in their statement that it was a “planned abdominal surgery” and she would not “return to public duties until after Easter.”
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On Jan. 29, 2024, Kensington Palace shared an update that Kate had been discharged from the hospital, with Prince William resuming his public duties on Feb. 7, 2024.
Throughout February, William attended a series of high profile events, like the BAFTAs, alone. Then, he had to miss the memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, due to a “personal matter.” So, yes, he dropped out of a royal engagement.
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By the time February ended, the entire internet was wondering where Kate was, with countless memes spreading about her whereabouts. A rep for Kate issued a statement saying that Kensington Palace “made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery.”
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This statement also came after a grainy photo of Kate surfaced online, with many wondering why the photos of the princess were so unclear.
That brings us to just a few days ago, when things got arguably even more chaotic after the official Instagram account for the prince and princess shared a photo of Kate for UK Mother’s Day. And, well, the photo appeared to be photoshopped. It was so badly edited that photo agencies refused to run the image.
Kensington Palace addressed the controversy with a tweet from Kate, reading, “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.”
All of this just fuelled the “Where is Kate Middleton really?!” conspiracy theories, memes, and news coverage, with many even more invested in the saga now.
So, because we seem to be living through yet another British Royal Family scandal — and PR crisis — here are 21 real-life facts about other Royal Family scandals and events throughout the years that you might not know about:
