Royal expert Nick Bullen has thoughts on Prince William addressing the speculation about Princess Kate Middleton’s months-long recovery from abdominal surgery.
“I think it’s good that he spoke out. There’s been so much conspiracy here in London,” Bullen, the Editor-in-Chief of True Royalty TV, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, March 6. “I think William just decided, ‘OK, enough is enough.’”
Kensington Palace announced on January 17 that Kate, 42, had undergone a “planned” abdominal procedure at the London Clinic and was not likely to return to public duties until after Easter.
As social media runs wild with theories about what could be keeping the princess out of commission for so long, a rep for William, 41, told People on Wednesday that the Prince of Wales’ “focus is on work and not on social media.”
Kate was spotted out and about for the first time since the procedure on Monday, March 4. In photos obtained by TMZ, the princess could be seen sitting in the passenger seat of a car alongside her mom, Carole Middleton.
“Kensington Palace asked for those photos to be taken down. And the American press ran with them, the British press dropped them. I don’t think that helped the conspiracy theory machine,” Bullen told Us. “So, I think William probably did have to come out and say, ‘Look, everything’s fine. We’re just getting on with the job.’ He said, ‘We’re not going to be speculating on social media.’ So, I think [he] felt he had to say something.”
Bullen added that Buckingham Palace being open about King Charles III undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate in January (and his subsequent cancer diagnosis) has made the lack of information on Kate’s condition more conspicuous.
“Because the king was so open about his enlarged prostate surgery, it slightly put pressure on Kensington Palace and William and Kate to reveal what is going on there,” he explained. “Because they didn’t, the void is created, [and] that sort of vacuum is filled with speculation.”
Bullen noted that the “real mistake” was that Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace “obviously weren’t coordinating” when they announced Charles and Kate’s respective health struggles.
“The very fact that we have the king’s enlarged prostate news being announced on the same day that Kate is going into hospital, and one [announcement] is very open and one is less open, I think that from the very start was a little badly handled because it felt that the households weren’t talking to each other,” Bullen said.
While some have questioned why Kate’s recovery period is so long, Bullen thinks there could be a simple explanation.
“I think they really felt they wanted to take time for her to recover properly and come back fully recovered, because there’s an argument that if she’d come back very quickly and then not been fully recovered and [had] to retreat again, that would’ve created even more speculation,” he said. “So, I think the view was [to] go in, get it done properly, get better, and then come back out full tilt.”
Bullen shared that he’s heard Kate is “in really good spirits” and doing “well” as she recuperates.
“The fact that she was photographed on the school run with her mom — OK, not driving, but lots of people don’t drive after abdominal surgery — but the fact that she’s on the school run, she’s out with her mother, dropping the kids off at school would suggest that things are good,” he said.
