Kate Middleton hadn’t been seen in public since Christmas Day – until American news outlet TMZ suddenly caught the princess on camera on Monday. Although no British tabloid decided to publish the picture for several reasons, it has become the talk of the town, and even more questions are being raised about Kate’s health status.

The Princess of Wales’ first public engagement after her surgery was announced yesterday by the Army. However, it didn’t take long before it was removed – and Kensington Palace has not yet confirmed it. Meanwhile, her uncle has decided to keep the lid on what she is up to.

Several royal experts have spoken out on the newly taken paparazzi picture of Kate, and one of the main themes includes Kate suddenly becoming vulnerable. Some say having her picture taken was most likely the last thing Kate wanted, while another believes it shows a “depressing” truth about her current life.

While there is still about a month left before Easter, which was initially said to be the end period for Kate’s recovery, news suggests that the princess is on her way back to everyday life.

First picture taken of Kate Middleton after surgery, published
On Monday, March 4, the American news site TMZ released the first picture of Kate Middleton to have been taken on Kate Middleton since her surgery. The princess hasn’t been spotted in public since Christmas Day, and in the new picture, Kate is seen wearing sunglasses in the passenger seat of a car.

Meanwhile, Kate Middleton has asked for privacy during her recovery phase, so no British tabloid has yet run the picture.

Since being admitted to the hospital on January 16 to undergo the planned abdominal surgery, Kate’s schedule has been entirely cleared. Now, her first outing after recovery has been confirmed.

On Wednesday, the Minister of Defense confirmed that Kate Middleton will attend the Trooping the Colour dress rehearsal ceremony on June 8, ahead of the main event on June 15. Kensington Palace is still to confirm the Princess of Wales’ presence at the event, and just hours later, it appears that it was a huge mistake.

As several British newspapers reported, Kate Middleton’s potential return to royal duty event has been deleted from an Army website. As per GB News, Kensington Palace was “not consulted” regarding the Princess of Wales’ appearance.

Many royal fans have been worried about Kate’s well-being, and some have demanded that the palace issue more updates on how she is doing. Meanwhile, a royal spokesperson said the palace “made it clear in January” that they would provide significant updates” only when necessary.

However, the first picture of Kate following the surgery, which TMZ published, has now led to many royal experts demanding that Kate and the palace act to address the situation as speculations grow.

Kensington Palace has fiercely protected Kate Middleton and her privacy as she is recovering from surgery. No pictures of her leaked as she left or arrived at the hospital, and even when she and her family traveled to their Anmer Hall estate in Sandringham some weeks ago, they did so without any photographers being in sight.

The fact that a picture of Kate has now been leaked is undoubtedly seen as a failure and disappointment for the palace.

Meanwhile, Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent Jack Royston argues that the government’s release of so little information—which the public has demanded—has contributed to the situation.

“The kind of secrecy that Kensington Palace brought to this situation fuelled completely feverish wild speculation online, and that creates the demand that means TMZ know that they’re going to make big bucks running these pictures because they know that huge numbers of people are going to go and click on this story,” Royston told Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.

“And that means that they can pay big amounts of money to the photographer, which makes it worth the photographer’s while to take the risk to get these pictures.”

Royston stated that Kensington Palace could have handled the situation better, making it all go away last week.

“Kate could have taken a picture herself. She could have taken a selfie. William could have taken it. It didn’t need to be a good picture. Didn’t need to be a high-res image. It just needed to be a picture or a little video like Charles did,” he continued.

Picture of Kate “definitely” not staged, expert claims
The royal expert added that Kensington Palace has allowed it to “snowball into a massive thing” only because they haven’t protected Kate well enough.

“What’s effectively happened is they’ve allowed this to snowball into a massive thing, and if they’d got ahead of it then they would have actually protected Kate better,” Jack Royston continued when appearing on Good Morning Britain.

“It probably felt to them at the time like they were protecting her and shielding her by just leaving her to get on with her recovery undisturbed but actually this is not protecting Kate. Her being papped in Windsor, the [Daily] Mail is speculating that she may have been on the school run, that that’s not protecting her. She was not going to feel protected in this moment.”

There have been whispers that Kate possibly wanted her picture taken as she sat in the car. However, according to Christopher Andersen, author of The King, it was “definitely” not staged.

“She was trying to sneak out of Windsor with her mother and was clearly not pleased that they had been spotted by a photographer,” Andersen told Fox. “This cloak-and-dagger stuff is only going to fuel more speculation about what’s really going on with Kate and with her father-in-law, King Charles.

He added, “In its typically smug fashion, the palace issued a statement last week insisting that everything was going according to plan. They never explained, however, why Kate spent weeks in the hospital after ‘planned abdominal surgery’ and has needed to remain closeted away for months. It’s all been terribly fishy from the get-go.”

Kate Middleton chose not to share details of her medical condition with the public
Everyone has the right to privacy, and Kate Middleton is also one of them, despite her being the Princess of Wales and a future queen. As she underwent abdominal surgery in January, she decided not to release details of her medical condition, which she, of course, is entitled to.

Meanwhile, King Charles went the other way, disclosing everything as he got treatment for an enlarged prostate.

In a statement, the king said he did it because he hoped it could help other men to seek consultation and go to checkups, too. The discussion quickly shifted to whether Kate Middleton shouldn’t have done the same by giving the public all the information about what she was going through.

There have been many speculations about Kate Middleton’s health in the last month. One doctor argued that her recovery could take up to nine months. A royal expert claimed that Adelaide Cottage, where Kate lives with Prince William and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, was too cold of a house to recover at. A mental health expert said Kate needed to rest for as long as possible.

Karwai Tang/WireImage
At the same time, Kensington Palace has only released a few statements on Kate’s recovery, and as of the latest, it has been revealed that she is doing well. The fact that Kensington Palace hasn’t released one single picture of her leaves question marks.

Royal author says it “wouldn’t have hurt” Kate to “pop her head above the paparet”
In the Fox interview, The King author Christopher Andersen wondered if Kate really is doing well. Because if she is, he continued, she could have stepped outside and “smile for photographers.”

“Keep in mind that members of the royal family in particular are famous for getting out there [and] keeping up appearances no matter what,” Andersen said. “Queen Elizabeth never spent months recovering from an illness, and over the course of her 70-year reign, she dealt with a number of serious medical issues. So, the mystery surrounding Kate’s surgery and what it was for deepens.”

Andersen concluded that while Kate wanted to keep things private, it “wouldn’t have hurt” her to “pop her head above the parapet every now and then.”

Meanwhile, even though she has been criticized for being too private and not sharing information with royal fans, the royal author says it’s not too late to change that.

“It may also be that her medical problem, whatever it is, gave her a new appreciation of what she regards as truly important in life – spending time at home with her children. Kate really is such a pro at handling the press and the public, for her to remain out of sight like this really has to make one wonder: What in God’s name is going on?” he concluded.

Ian Vogler-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Kate Middleton and her husband, Prince William, indeed gave a lot of thought to how they were to handle the situation around the surgery and how the public was to react to the fact that they weren’t going to release any specific details about it or her recovery.

Royal expert shares heartbreaking truth behind latest Kate Middleton picture
Did they possibly underestimate the public’s demands regarding what they feel they are entitled to know rather than should? According to Daniela Elser, the paparazzi picture of Kate published on TMZ’s website tells a bigger story, and it’s not a happy one.

Was Kensington Palace and William’s Kate blackout a gross miscalculation? In an age where the public demands greater accountability and transparency, was this plan always going to come to grief?” Elser asked in a column for News.com.au. How much privacy and space does a future Queen get, need, or deserve?

“With these new images, it’s depressing that it looks a lot like Kate felt she had to let her face be seen in public to stem the tide of delirium. There is something just a bit screwy and upsetting and off-kilter about the internet rabble being able to alter the plan for the 42-year-old’s recovery.”

Moreover, Elser added that Prince William had played a part in the picture even being published. Last week, he canceled royal duty for a “personal matter,” which initially sparked speculations about Kate’s health.

Scott Garfitt/Getty Images for BAFTA
It was later confirmed it wasn’t, but as the explanation was, as Elser describes as “purposefully vague,” he didn’t make it easier for his wife.

“Why isn’t he helping clean it up”
“Thus, the prince helped make the mess – why isn’t he helping clean it up? Why has it fallen to Kate, who had some sort of surgery significant enough to warrant two weeks in hospital, to dispel the grab bag of daft theories about where she is and what might be going on?” she continued.

Daniela Elser concluded her column with an analysis of the latest picture of Kate, asking if she really “look like a woman who is ready or keen to be back on display” or to be “put on public view like a museum specimen.”

“I suppose if there is one lesson to be drawn from all this is that princesses might get all the gee-gaws and diamonds they might fancy but choice? Freedom? Real independence? Maybe there’s no such thing as a free ten-bedroom Norfolk estate after all. Everything has a price,” Elser stated.

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