The Princess of Wales is undoubtedly the most talked-about woman in the world, something that has reached unprecedented levels this year.
Kensington Palace announced the news in January that Kate Middleton had undergone "planned" abdominal surgery, and after a 13-day stay in hospital, would be recovering privately in Windsor with her family.
The Princess of Wales has taken a temporary step back from royal duties in order to recover, and is not expected to return until after Easter.
“[The Princess of Wales] hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible," read the statement at the time of her surgery. "And her wish that her personal medical information remains private."
But with her months-long "disappearance" concerning members of the public, conspiracy theories have been spreading, with particular online speculation surrounding the state of her marriage to Prince William.
This has only been heightened by the recent photoshoot scandal, seeing the palace release a photograph of Princess Kate and her children, that had reportedly been photoshopped. And given the fact that the Princess of Wales' wedding ring wasn't visible, the royal rumour mill has been on overload.
According to sources via Daily Mail, the Prince and Princess of Wales have been "deeply upset" and "angered" by the conspiracy theories and the "public discussion around [Kate's] welfare".
“I spoke to Kensington Palace that morning," The Sun's editor Victoria Newton added on Times Radio this week. "They said she's really upset and sad that she's caused all this trouble."
Newton went on to discuss the need for the conspiracy theories around Kate to stop, explaining: "This is a woman who's had a really serious operation - probably far more serious than anybody actually understands. She always said she would be out of public life until Easter. She isn't head of state. It's a bit different to say, King Charles, who I think we have more right to know more about his illnesses and what went wrong. But I think with Kate, she didn't deserve that.
"What happened was this crazy online speculation, both here and in the US, went out of control and it seemed that the public were really desperate to know what was wrong with her. But I think she had a right to be at home and recuperate."
We will continue to update this story.
