The last few months have been a trying period for Kate Middleton, no matter which lens you choose to look through.

Though the Princess of Wales has opted not to publicize her recovery from a still undisclosed abdominal procedure in January, her absence has become arguably the most major royal talking point of 2024 to date – this in spite of King Charles’s shock cancer diagnosis.

Since word of Kate’s surgery broke a rollercoaster of conspiracy theories have been circulated. The truth of the matter, of course, is that no one, save perhaps for a very select few, have any idea what is going on with the Princess with regards to her health.

Hardly helping matters was last week’s debacle involving the image released to celebrate Mother’s Day in the UK. That alone birthed a whole new branch of salacious gossip for the Royal Family to contend with.

Unless you’ve been sheltering under a rock, you’ll have read the reports of photo agencies withdrawing the first image of Kate Middleton taken in over 70 days over concerns that it had been “manipulated”.

Given the fact that large swathes of the public were suspicious of the Royal Family’s transparency regarding Kate anyway, the fact that the first picture of her was doctored sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive.

Kate herself admitted to having “self-edited” the photo in question, but by that stage the damage had already been done. Cue further rumors that the Princess of Wales remains in hiding for reasons other than what the official updates have claimed.

One such suggested reason – unverified, we must add – is that Kate and Prince William are experiencing marital issues, with all manner of rumors swirling as to what the future might hold for the monarchy as a result.

According to royal insiders speaking to the Sunday Times, William and Kate are aware of the firestorm of speculation, and have even been left “shaken” by it.

A friend told the Sunday Times: “It’s not that they didn’t think there would be lots of speculation and interest, but they had confidence that people would give them the space they asked for, which they did for about a month.”

Another source added: “If you want to call out the mistake, it was Kate not telling her team that she’d done it [edited the photo]. But she came out and said sorry.

“The photo was a misstep: even with something as innocent as that, you should disclose altering it.

“But in the history of image cropping and photo altering to tell a story, a lot of the reaction from picture agencies was hypocritical.”

The coming days may shed new light on the problems currently facing the Royal Family, with reports stating that the BBC have been told to await a major announcement.

These claims have gone unsubstantiated, though we can assume that matters will need to be clarified sooner rather than later.