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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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Kate Middleton is "doing well" six weeks after an abdominal surgery that saw her step back from royal duties, Kensington Palace said.
The update came after Prince William on Tuesday pulled out of a planned reading he was to give at a Service of Thanksgiving at Windsor Castle for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, who died in January 2023.
The palace said only that the Prince of Wales canceled his attendance due to a "personal matter," without going into details about what it was.
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Needless to say, the update on Kate's health pre-emptively headed off any possible speculation that her recovery from abdominal surgery in January had been set back.
Aides have been batting away wild speculation from a Spanish journalist that Kate was in a medically induced coma.
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The palace told Newsweek this was "ludicrous" and the reporter herself appears to have wider conspiracy theories beyond Kate as her website lists books she has written suggesting Michael Jackson and Princess Diana were murdered.
However, the air of mystery around William's decision adds to a growing vacuum of information as the weeks pass, and there is still no photo of Kate.
The princess was discharged from The London Clinic at the end of January and made it 27 miles home to Windsor without catching the attention of photographers.
William and Kate then traveled 140 miles up to Sandringham, in Norfolk, and back again, all without the princess being photographed.
If the palace is not planning a photo of some description, there will be another five weeks before the other side of Easter weekend, though this could easily turn into seven and a half weeks before William and Kate's children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis return to school.
Many a rumor may be shared over the course of that time so Kate's aides may wish to remind her to stay firmly off social media.
Meanwhile, William's absence at Windsor Castle Tuesday created the bizarre spectacle of Prince Andrew seemingly leading the royal family into the thanksgiving service.
Queen Camilla was the most senior royal in attendance but appeared to arrive separately from the rest of the royals, meaning the footage shared on social media instead showed Andrew at the head of the pack.
The Duke of York stepped back from public duties in disgrace in November 2019 after a car crash BBC interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre sued him at civil court on allegations of sexual assault while she was an Epstein trafficking victim in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Andrew settled out of court for an undisclosed sum without admitting liability but remains barred from public duties, though he occasionally appears at family events.
Jack Royston is Newsweek*'s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on* Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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