Catherine, Princess of Wales

Subterms

    Latest story

    75 Shares179 Views

    King Charles III Attends Easter Service

    by

    The family has been thrown off balance by health crises, including cancer diagnoses for the king and Catherine, Princess of Wales. She and her husband, Prince William, did not appear.King Charles III attended the Easter church service on Sunday at Windsor Castle with Queen Camilla, later greeting well-wishers who had turned out to see his first significant public appearance since disclosing last month that he has cancer.Charles, 75, has continued to work while undergoing treatment, greeting visitors and holding his weekly meetings with the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak. But he has suspended public engagements on the advice of his doctors.Strolling out of the church after the service ended, Charles shook hands and chatted with the people who had gathered outside, telling one, “You’re very brave to stand out here in the cold.”His appearance in a familiar setting, St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, was calculated to restore a semblance of normalcy to a royal family that has been thrown badly off balance by multiple health crises this year. Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced just over a week ago that she, too, had been diagnosed with cancer.As planned, neither Catherine nor her husband, Prince William, appeared with the family at the service. She has not made an official public appearance since Christmas Day, before she entered a hospital for abdominal surgery in January. In a video, Catherine said that tests conducted after the operation found evidence of cancer.Charles has been a much more visible presence since becoming ill. He is photographed regularly speaking with dignitaries like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. On Tuesday, the king, who has embraced religious pluralism, met with leaders from multiple faiths at Buckingham Palace.But he has stayed away from larger gatherings. On Holy Thursday, known in Britain as Maundy Thursday, Charles skipped a service at which the monarch traditionally hands out gifts of special “Maundy Money” coins to people involved in community service. Camilla carried out the ritual, in one of her most conspicuous appearances as a stand-in.In a video recorded for the service, Charles said, “We need and benefit greatly from those who extend the hand of friendship to us, especially in a time of need.” That was widely interpreted as an acknowledgment of the flood of well-wishes that have poured in since he and Catherine announced their illnesses.Buckingham Palace has suggested that Charles is impatient and wants to get back to a regular schedule. But it has never specified what type of cancer he has, his prognosis or his treatment.Two weeks ago, social media channels in Russia were flooded with spurious rumors that Charles had died. After the reports were picked up by several Russian news agencies, the British embassies in Moscow and Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, felt obliged to debunk them, calling it “fake news.” More

    More stories

    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Camilla Takes Center Stage With King Charles and Catherine Ill

      by

      The woman whose very existence once seemed to threaten the royal family’s stability has emerged as a stabilizing force during a major health crisis.In the last few weeks, as illness has sidelined two of Britain’s most visible royal figures, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and King Charles III, one member of the family’s frontbench has stepped into the vacuum: Queen Camilla.Last week, she traveled to the Isle of Man to deliver a speech on Charles’s behalf and met with public officials and community groups. She then flew to Northern Ireland, where she visited a bakery and butcher shop, attended a literary event and accepted salutes at a military parade.Camilla, 76, smiled for the photographers, joking on Thursday that a camera-friendly toddler who upstaged her visit to the butcher shop was a “natural.” She betrayed neither the strain of taking care of a cancer-stricken husband, nor that a day later Catherine would announce that she, too, had been diagnosed with cancer.It is the kind of twist of fate that royal watchers savor: Camilla, the woman whose very existence once seemed to threaten the stability of the royal family, has emerged as a stabilizing force during a major royal health crisis. At times recently, it has felt as though she was carrying the entire House of Windsor on her shoulders.“This is a vulnerable time for the royal family, where their human frailties are fully on display,” said Arianne J. Chernock, an associate professor of history at Boston University and an expert on the modern British monarchy. “Camilla’s own background and training can help her in these circumstances.”Crowds awaited Queen Camilla’s arrival in Douglas, Isle of Man, last week, where she filled in for Charles.Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson Collection, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      For Catherine, Living a Public Life in a Public Body, Privacy is Illusory

      by

      To be clear, there is nothing private about having cancer. A diagnosis requires referrals and a bewildering number of scans and tests. There are ultrasounds, MRIs, PET scans; colonoscopies, bronchoscopies, endoscopies. There are needle biopsies, razor biopsies, or liquid biopsies. Most of the tests require getting naked, or mostly naked, beneath a robe, sometimes waiting in a large room full of other terrified strangers also in robes, before presenting oneself to strangers who push, jab, thread and insert tools into or onto body parts that are not normally explored. Frequently, these tests have to be repeated, or different tests ordered, to rule something out.“I’ve been naked in front of so many people in my life at this point. You sort of lose some of that sense of, ‘My body is private,’” said Isabel Blumberg, who is my gynecologist. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, Blumberg was the first person to call me. She told me that she’d had cancer, too.In the video Kensington Palace released on Friday, Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed her cancer status after more than six weeks of silence and pleaded for privacy. “We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,” she said while wringing her thin hands. A princess no doubt bypasses the waiting rooms and receives a level of medical care inaccessible to most. But she cannot evade the intrusions and indignities of cancer — the anxious waiting for pathology reports, the shock of the news, the series of treatment decisions that no young, healthy person has ever imagined having to make. The treatment can feel like a grueling, interminable invasion.Catherine publicly announced her diagnosis in a video released on Friday.BBC Studios, via Getty ImagesAnd because Catherine is a princess, the violations went further: the wild and incessant speculation about what had gone wrong with her body, the alleged unauthorized infiltrations of her medical files, which the London Clinic, where she underwent “major abdominal surgery,” is investigating. “There is no place at our hospital for those who intentionally breach the trust of any of our patients or colleagues,” Al Russell, the clinic’s CEO, said in a statement.Even in health, privacy is difficult for a public figure to attain, and since she married Prince William in 2011, Kate Middleton has lived under a microscope. Her physical body — her legs, her hair, her behind, her clothing — has been scrutinized in the way of every female celebrity but also because of her royal function and role. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Catherine’s Cancer Disclosure Shows Her Lessons From Previous Media Ordeals

      by

      “They know they can’t control the online world,” one expert on the royal family said about the recent spate of revelations about the health of Catherine and King Charles III.For more than two months, Catherine, Princess of Wales, had lost control of her story to a spiral of wild, baseless online rumors. On Friday evening, with a stark two-minute, 13-second video, she set out to reclaim it.To do so, the princess had to deliver the wrenching news that she was battling a life-threatening cancer, the kind of deeply personal disclosure that she and her husband, Prince William, have long resisted.Catherine, 42, made the decision to record the video herself, two people familiar with the planning process said on Saturday. Earlier, she had decided to post an apology for digitally altering a photograph of herself with her three children, which set off a new round of conspiracy theories after it was released on Mother’s Day in Britain.“This was pitch perfect from her perspective,” said Peter Hunt, a former royal correspondent at the BBC. “The fact that it was a video was a rebuke to all those questions about her whereabouts.”In opting to go public this way, Catherine has etched a place for herself in the annals of the British royal family and among the women of the House of Windsor. The video, in its frankness and barely concealed emotion, recalled Queen Elizabeth II’s televised message days after the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.Catherine seemed to be modeling herself on Elizabeth, whose video was intended to douse another media firestorm, over whether she and the royal family had not displayed appropriate grief after Diana’s death. It also set her apart from Diana, who was ultimately a victim of the media currents that swirled around her.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Princess Kate’s Cancer Diagnosis Plunges Royal Family Into Uncertainty

      by

      First King Charles and now Catherine, Princess of Wales, are facing grave health concerns, stretching an already slimmed-down monarchy.In a video statement, Catherine, Princess of Wales, said that she had been diagnosed with cancer and started chemotherapy.BBC StudiosCatherine, Princess of Wales, has been diagnosed with cancer and has begun chemotherapy, she announced on Friday, putting a grim coda on months of rumors about her condition and plunging Britain’s royal family into deep uncertainty as two of its most senior figures grapple with grave health concerns.Her diagnosis follows that of King Charles III, who announced his own cancer diagnosis and treatment in early February. Like the king, Catherine, 42, did not specify what type of cancer she had, nor what her prognosis was.Speaking in a prerecorded video released on Friday evening, Catherine said, “It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family” as she described having major abdominal surgery in January and then learning through subsequent tests that she had a form of cancer.Looking fatigued but determined to express hope about her recovery, Catherine said she and her husband, Prince William, were helping their three children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, cope with having a sick mother.“This of course came as a huge shock,” Catherine said, “and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time.”“We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,” said Catherine, who wore a simple striped sweater and sat on a bench, against a backdrop of early spring flowers, in the video, which was recorded by BBC Studios on Wednesday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      Skeptical America’s ‘Katespiracies’ fixation goes beyond a reasonable doubt

      by

      For a while, the “Katespiracies” were the most fun people have had on the internet in a long time.The whereabouts of the Princess of Wales after her planned abdominal surgery and subsequent recovery were not particularly high stakes, and so many reveled in the threads and group chats as the “what ifs” got wilder – the theories both more specific and more incredible at the same time.Some postured that Catherine had been replaced with a body double, had been photoshopped into photos not just now but for months, or maybe treated unjustly by an increasingly sinister Prince William. Or: could it be that the princess was dead?The royals did not help their own case. With each vague and defensive correspondence from Buckingham Palace confirming Catherine was actually fine and on track for a recovery by Easter, the online world doubled down.“The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said back in January. “The prince and princess wish to say a huge thank you to the entire team at the London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they have provided.”When the Associated Press noted that a photo of Catherine and her children had been doctored, presumably manipulated by the princess herself, the frantic cycle of speculation only escalated.For many it felt like a break from reality and a news cycle dominated by war and politics, and an exercise in collective creativity. It was Twitter/X at its funniest, and the common person working towards a common goal. (That, and the Timothée Chalamet meme.)Then, suddenly, it got dark.A video was released this week by the Sun of Catherine and William shopping near their home. The metadata confirmed the location and timing. In a normal world, this would be enough to slow the rumor mill. But of course, it wasn’t. Internet sleuths kept sleuthing.Why were the Christmas decorations still up in March? She didn’t look exactly like herself, did she? Why were all these videos so damn blurry?It was proof that nothing would satiate the hive mind in the post-truth world, a world where people are fed an onslaught of information, much of it true, some of it manufactured, and some of it somewhere in between. And when people are primed to believe something is false, there’s little one can do, short of maybe meeting the princess in person, that will put an end to the doubt.That matters far beyond what may – or may not – be going on with Britain’s future queen.The US is currently battling a deep distrust in institutions that, while fallible and constantly evolving, are actually founded in the public good – from the Department of Justice to the CDC. That distrust, paired with the ease of proliferating conspiracy theories, has made the ability to have civic discourse, or to report the truth, increasingly difficult. It gives way not to the most likely explanation, or the most fact-based – but the one that most fits with the narrative the court of public opinion has cultivated.There are many depressing versions of Katespiracies that hound Americans in the political world. For example: Ashley Biden’s (fake) diary, QAnon and pretty much anything to do with Anthony Fauci. How do you convince people who believe these hoaxes – which have been disproven many times over, that the real threat to their lives is losing critical social safety nets or birth control, herd immunity, or public education?It is true that the world is rife with misinformation, and blindly trusting those in power has never been a good idea. The royal family, specifically, has a long history of scandal and secrecy. And public institutions, similarly, owe us transparency and clarity.Yet three months of speculation on Catherine is a sign that healthy doubt and questioning can be easily replaced by the inability to accept any truth at all. In the absence of information, on any subject, we’ve now seen what can happen when the court of public opinion takes over the conversation. Even when the facts emerge, there’s a possibility that it will no longer matter. More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Princess Kate and the Royal Family: A Timeline of the Last Few Months

      by

      It’s been a busy few months for King Charles III and his family. There have been surgeries, health announcements, and one family photograph people can’t stop talking about.For months, nearly all eyes have been fixated on the ebbs and flows of the British royal family, with King Charles III and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, in the spotlight because of health matters.But as of late, the extended absence of Catherine, also known as Kate, from the public eye has propelled a tidal wave of rumors over her whereabouts, ultimately leaving the public still searching for answers.Here is a quick timeline of key moments to help you catch up.Dec. 25, 2023Kate makes her last public appearance.Kate’s last official public appearance was on Christmas Day, when she attended a church service at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, England.She was photographed wearing head-to-toe royal blue while walking to the church alongside her husband, Prince William, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, as they routinely do each Christmas. The entire family coordinated in blue and green.Catherine arrives with her family to attend the Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene’s church at Sandringham.Chris Radburn/ReutersJan. 17, 2024Kate undergoes surgery.A little more than three weeks later, on Jan. 17, Kensington Palace announced that Kate had been admitted to the London Clinic to have abdominal surgery. Officials gave few details about her health but said the surgery was successful, and that her condition was “not cancerous.” She was expected to remain hospitalized for up to two weeks.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      First Official Photo of Princess Catherine Since Surgery Is Released by Royal Palace

      by

      Amid rampant rumors on social media about the condition of the princess, Kensington Palace issued the picture to mark Mother’s Day in Britain but provided no details on her condition.Nearly two months after undergoing abdominal surgery, Catherine, the princess of Wales, appeared in an official photograph, released on Sunday by Kensington Palace to mark Mother’s Day in Britain.Catherine, who posed with her three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, has not been seen in public since before she entered the hospital on Jan. 16, provoking a swirl of increasingly far-fetched rumors on social media about her condition.The image of a smiling Catherine, surrounded by her family, will most likely quiet what had become an extraordinary distraction for the British royal family, which is also dealing with a cancer diagnosis for King Charles III. But it did not completely dispel the questions about the 42-year-old princess.Kensington Palace, where Catherine and her husband, Prince William, have their offices, did not release any new details on her condition or convalescence. It said the photograph was taken by William this past week in Windsor, where the family lives in Adelaide Cottage, on the grounds of Windsor Castle.In a post on social media accompanying the photograph, Catherine said, “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”Last week, a grainy paparazzi shot of Catherine, riding in a car driven by her mother, was posted on the American celebrity gossip site TMZ. British newspapers and broadcasters reported widely on the photograph, but did not publish it, honoring the palace’s appeal that she be allowed to recuperate in private.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More