Where's Kate Middleton? Her rep brushes off speculation

[marsdiamonds]

Various conspiracy theories have been circulating online since Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, underwent surgery and took time off from her royal duties. Kensington Palace said in January that Kate is recovering from planned abdominal surgery. However, people think she may have had cosmetic surgery, is dealing with serious health issues or

Comments

[laydownhere]

In looking at royalty we are always looking at what is archaic, what is mysterious by its nature, and my feeling is that it will only ever half-reveal itself. This poses a challenge to historians and to those of us who work imaginatively with the past. Royal persons are both gods and beasts. They are persons but they are supra-personal, carriers of a blood line: at the most basic, they are breeding stock, collections of organs.

I think this Hilary Mantel quote from Royal Bodies in the LRB sort of gets to the point - of course people won't be satisfied, of course people feel entitled to know what is happening. It is part and parcel of the system where Kate isn't a person, where she has to a degree chosen to become more/less than a human.

[aristobrit]

"The Palace" leaked Meghan's mental health issues to Valentine Low and other royal reporters. The press was encouraged to speculate about it long before Meghan mentioned it.

Since you've opened this door, I will add that it's despicable for Prince William to continue to have anything to do with any mental health charity, since he's trashed his own brother's mental health in the British papers, saying Harry's therapist "brainwashed him." WTF kind of comment is that to make about anyone's mental health?

[laydownhere]

Yeah, there is this inherent tension of Kate Middleton, the person, who is entitled to privacy and respect.

But then you have the underlying dynamic of not being Kate Middle but, HRH Princess of Wales the son she birthed will one day be the supreme head of the Church, that an adopted child could not be an heir to the throne so literally her flesh-and-blood as the wife to the current heir has some divine/magical quality. And then the royal body becomes of public interest. That the monarchy is dependent on being something the public can see and feel.

And yeah, like, man bet they wish they had some bones to throw at the press bc what they have now is not covering up. Even Harry's failed lawsuit isn't breaking through right now.

[insomniachobs]

I think it's something far more down to earth than divine qualities of the royal body; these people are very literally funded by the British public. And not even in that indirect way of most celebrities where you're paying for a product they put out: a movie, an album. They are living a life of obscene wealth and privilege funded entirely by ordinary working people, in return for them visibly existing.

So of course people feel entitled to them. People feel entitled to anything they've paid money for. (This is not me arguing that people are right to feel entitled, btw, it's just wholly unsurprising that they do)

[laydownhere]

Like - what are they paid for? Why do they get to live in castles and have people (some of whom have done amazing, world-changing things!) bow and scrape and be their subjects?

It isn't to cut ribbons, to crack a bottle of champagne on a warship or say that the BAFTAs are a great idea - it is to be a warm body on a throne and to have babies who will grow up to be another generation of warm bodies on a throne.

In an age of like, faux egalitarianism where the BRF can't publicly justify themselves by saying well we're entitled bc we were literally born better than you, more divine than you - idk. There can never be an answer to what the public that funds them is entitled to.

[sashwizzled]

There is definitely a part of me that's like, the British public literally pays for nothing more than for her to live in the manner to which she's accustomed, they're entitled to do all the banal gossiping they want......but also yes, ultimately she's a human being and I feel bad about all the people who seem to be hoping it's really bad just to keep the gossip mill turning.

[laydownhere]

lots of fun contradictions to try and puzzle out. esp like, the entitlement to royal women's bodies and the gendered queries of was it a facelift? was it the loss of The Royal Womb? etc

[aristobrit]

I don't want to see anything bad happen to her and at the same time, I don't think she's special and I don't think she's a good person. She allowed a lie about Meghan to stand in the media for years, and has still never publicly apologized for it. Meghan didn't make Kate cry, Kate made Meghan cry. Kate also allowed her 4-year old daughter to be used in a relentless online, social media hate campaign to bully Meghan and did nothing to stop it.

Then she said walking near Meghan was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do in her life. What rubbish.