A Complete Timeline of Kate Middleton's Disappearance

Where is Kate Middleton? The world wants to know. While we wait for answers, here's how her disappearing act went down, from her surgery, to her less-than-picture-perfect Photoshop fail—and beyond. "It's really capturing those moments that feel real to you." Kate's last public appearance was on Christmas Day 2023, at the yearly church service in Sandringham. The Christmas service was the first time the Royal Family had stepped out together since the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla i

n May of 2023. Kate donned a royal blue trench coat and what looked to be sapphire earrings, paired with a half-up-half-down hairstyle and a matching royal blue hat. She appeared to be in good spirits during the procession into the church, as she held hands with her children and smiled at the onlookers. These are the newest photographs we have of Kate that aren't grainy paparazzi images, or heavily doctored ones (more on that in just a bit). Nearly a month after Kate's Christmas outing, she was

admitted to the London Clinic. Kensington Palace released a statement the next day saying that Kate underwent a "planned abdominal surgery," adding that it was "successful" and that Kate will remain in the hospital for "ten to fourteen days." While little is known about the nature of the surgery and why it was done, a source revealed to People that it had nothing to do with cancer. Prince William was seen visiting his wife the next day and also took a step back from his public appearances to rem

ain by her side. The palace statement said that Kate would be recovering at her home and would most likely not be seen in public for royal duties until after the Easter holiday. "And she will not be carrying out any public duties at all during her recovery time, which could take up to three months." The statement also stressed Kate's desire to keep her personal health matters private: "The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate. She hopes that the public will und

erstand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private." That did little to stop the rumor mill from churning. Not helping matters? Buckingham Palace announcing that King Charles was being treated for an enlarged prostate, meaning two major royals were out of commission at the same time. Kate reportedly returned home on January 29th, but there are zero photographs, official or otherwise, showing Kate leavi

ng the clinic—a stark contrast to her father-in-law, the king, who waved to some assembled "royal watchers" in a photo op following his procedure. This is when things really start to go "pear-shaped" for Kate, PR-wise, with fresh rumors and conspiracy theories bubbling up online on a daily basis. "If you leave a vacuum and you don't say what's going on, then a whole load of nonsense comes in and fills that vacuum." Shortly after Kate's surgery announcement, Spanish journalist Concha Calleja made

a bold claim about Kate's doctors making a "drastic" life-saving decision, following "serious complications": "La decisión fue inducir a un coma." A source close to the palace denied those claims in early February, however, telling the Times, "It's total nonsense. No attempt was made by that journalist to fact-check anything that she said with anyone in the household. It's fundamentally, totally made-up, and I'll use polite English here: it's absolutely not the case." "What are they going to in

vent next, that she's dead? I think this is really, really disgusting." Prince William ultimately returned to his public duties in early February, but with quite a heavy weight on his shoulders. On February 5th, the palace announced that King Charles was diagnosed with cancer of some kind, following treatment for benign prostate enlargement. "They're not telling us exactly what kind of cancer he has, aside to say it is not prostate cancer." So that's two royal medical mysteries happening simulta

neously— "It just seems like it's a really tough time for the whole family." —and in the weeks to come, the continued silence creates a vacuum that gets filled with all manner of speculation. "What's, sort of, your outlook on his health?" "That stays between me and him." FEB. 26, 2024 A few weeks later, Prince William fans the flames by missing a ceremony to honor his godfather, King Constantine II of Greece, who died in January 2023 at age 82. "I hope it's nothing serious, but it is unusual." N

o word yet from the palace as to why he was a no-show, other than that it was a personal matter. "They refuse to go into any further detail on that, other than to confirm—reassure us—that the princess is fine." TMZ released a grainy paparazzi pic of Kate in a car on March 4th, but Kensington Palace caused quite a stir on Mother's Day in the UK when they released the first official image of Kate and her family following her surgery. "The point of this picture was very clearly designed to send a m

essage to the world: 'Yes, she's here. Yes, she's recovering well.'" On March 10th, the palace released a picture featuring Kate smiling alongside her three children in a celebration of the holiday. But almost immediately, expert photo analysis revealed that the photo had been heavily edited—most notably, Princess Charlotte's disappearing sweater. Another concerning detail? Kate not wearing her wedding ring. "Bad PR move. If you're trying to quell a load of rumors—Mother's Day with your three ki

ds—have your wedding ring on, love!" According to the Daily Mail, the image, which was reportedly taken by Prince William, had been tampered with in at least 16 ways. "I'm really happy to be here, everybody! And everything's intact!" That prompted the world's leading news agencies to "kill" the photo—which, of course, just drew even more attention to it. Who better to answer questions swirling about the doctored photo than the Princess of Wales herself? "That's a very good question." Kate took t

o X a day after the incident, writing a statement on her and Prince William's joint account. "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." A source close to Kate told People magazine that she made "minor adjustments" to the picture, but the internet assumed the worst, like the viral theory that Kate used a 2016 Vogue cover to fake her face, for some reason: "The tw

o do seem to eerily match." Stephen Colbert told his sizable viewership that this could mean trouble for Will and Kate: "Internet sleuths are guessing that Kate's absence may be related to her husband and future king of England, William, having an affair." While John Oliver's reaction to the Photoshop fail was a bit more… morbid: "There's a non-zero chance she died 18 months ago." Shortly after the apology, another grainy paparazzi pic emerged, which, surprise surprise, many online thought was a

nother fake. Most recently, Kate made an appearance at The Windsor Farm Shop, five miles down the road from her house. The Sun quoted one onlooker, who said, "Kate was out shopping with William and she looked happy and she looked well. The kids weren’t with them but it’s such a good sign she was healthy enough to pop down to the shops." But The Sun offered up zero photographic evidence of this outing, only deepening the mystery. "This photograph from the front page of The Sun is from last autumn

." "These pictures are not Kate, outdoors, over the weekend." TMZ later offered up a short video clip of Will and Kate exiting the shop… which will likely become even more fodder for online conspiracy theorists. So when will the world see Kate again in an official capacity? "I think full public duties, when she's ready, will be after the Easter holidays, and the children go back on April the 17th, so I think that's the week—or thereafter—we'll see her again."