After completing her chemotherapy treatment, the Princess of Wales admitted last September that it had been an ‘incredibly tough’ nine months.
Her traumatic year was made even more horrendous by the sustained trolling – online mockery and abuse – that our future Queen suffered at the hands of some of the more fanatical supporters of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.
I came across this toxic phenomenon in the course of researching a new edition of my television programme, Reading The Royals, released last night.
Typically, Catherine made no public reference to the trolling, although I am told that she was well aware of it – and shocked by its virulence.
Instead, at her Together At Christmas Carol Service at Westminster Abbey last December, she urged the congregation and the watching TV audience to choose ‘love, not fear’ and called for the nation to ‘slow down and reflect on the deeper things that connect us all’.
The trolling had begun 11 months earlier after Kensington Palace announced in January last year that the Princess had been admitted to The London Clinic to undergo ‘planned abdominal surgery’.
A spokesman said the surgery had been successful and that Catherine would stay at the private hospital for ten to 14 days before returning home to continue her recovery. ‘Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,’ the statement said.
It included an appeal for her to be allowed ‘to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private’.
Online conspiracy theorists posted sinister – and often slanderous – comments about the Princess of Wales, some from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s most unpleasant fans
Catherine reveals her cancer diagnosis in a personal and emotional video message, released in March last year
However, the plea fell on deaf ears among the ‘Sussex Squad’, as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s most devoted fans are known. They demanded to know why Catherine needed so much time to recuperate and accused her, among other things, of being lazy and using her health problems to avoid her duties.
The abuse increased the following month after Prince William pulled out of a memorial service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, for his godfather, the former King Constantine of Greece, at the last minute. A spokesman for William, who had been due to deliver a reading at the service, cited ‘personal matters’.
In an attempt to shut down public concern, Kensington Palace issued a brief update about Catherine’s health, saying she ‘continues to be doing well’.
We later learned that Catherine was diagnosed with cancer in February, with the Princess starting a course of preventative chemotherapy later that same month.
By late February, all we knew was that Catherine had undergone abdominal surgery earlier in the year and that she was recovering at home but ‘doing well’.
This wasn’t enough to silence the online conspiracy theorists, who posted sinister – and often slanderous – comments about her condition.
With #WhereisKateMiddleton trending on X, celebrities started jumping on the bandwagon, with the likes of Kim Kardashian posting a picture of herself standing by a luxury car with a caption that read: ‘On my way to go find Kate.’
In response to the rampant online speculation, a spokesman said: ‘Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’s recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.’ The spokesman reiterated once again that Catherine was ‘doing well’.
Unfortunately, the Princess’s silence only encouraged more sinister theories to come in thick and fast.
The Princess urged the congregation and TV audiences watching her Together At Christmas Carol Service last December to choose ‘love, not fear’
A poll conducted at the time indicated that half the population of Britain admitted to having read conspiracy theories about the Princess online.
In March, the Palace released an unprecedentedly personal and emotional video message from Catherine herself.
In the footage, filmed at Windsor, Catherine revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer, with the news coming as a ‘huge shock’.
Speaking from a bench surrounded by daffodils and spring blossom, the future queen confirmed her condition was discovered only after she underwent major abdominal surgery in January.
But she kept back certain crucial information and, in the wake of the video release, Kensington Palace said it would not be sharing details of what kind of cancer the Princess had, or at what stage it was at, pleading with people not to speculate.
However, within minutes of Catherine’s announcement, trolls began spreading bizarre posts that her video was AI-generated, while others criticised her for not going public sooner.
The sickening uploads saw trolls doctor her heartfelt message with the faces of Princess Diana or Meghan Markle to prove how easily a ‘deep fake’ could be created. But as the trolls went low, Catherine rose higher.
What her experience has taught her is the depths to which some people will plunge. Social media has given everyone the chance to have their say, but it has also provided a platform for the haters, and some of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s most unpleasant fans have not hesitated to weaponise it.
Sadly, a number of the couple’s own public comments, such as Harry’s claims of an ‘Establishment stitch-up’ when he lost a court case, and Meghan’s accusations of racism against unnamed senior royals, have served to give ammunition to the trolls.
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