"Where’s Kate?”: A Manufactured Conspiracy
Princess Kate's medical leave is turning the internet into conspiracy theorists
Hello Dear Readers!
It’s been a couple of weeks since HRH Royal Tea’s last newsletter. Between half-term at school and the whole house coming down with the flu, it’s been a slog few weeks. I welcomed the break because I was starting to feel annoyed by the social media furor regarding Catherine, Princess of Wales health. If you have no idea what I’m referring to, consider yourself lucky because Dear Readers, it’s a doozy.
The hashtag “#WhereIsKate” has been sweeping social media and TikTok. Under the guise of feigning interest in the health of the Princess of Wales, people online have decided that the best way to show concern for a woman recovering from surgery is challenging her right to do so on her own time and with her own privacy.
They wonder out loud and usually accompany the statements with #AbolishTheMonarchy. Why, oh why, would Catherine need so long to recover and why there has not been a single picture released?? The fake sympathy and interest seems to go on and on. And these messages have gone viral and been viewed millions of times combined:
Kate has gone missing?! Is she even alive!?
What’re they hiding?! Catherine’s death is going to be announced in two months time!
The intriguing part of these unbalanced takes? Most of these posters are who I would describe as left-leaning, if not outright progressive, and skew millennial. My people. Many have Ukrainian flags in their profile handles and Biden-Harris hashtags in their photos. Which goes to show it’s not just QAnon truthers alone who fall victim to believing baseless conspiracy theories and misinformation on social media. Regardless of your political leanings, your biases make you susceptible to believing bile. Like Prince William is physically, emotionally and verbally abusing his wife.
So the next time you laugh behind your hands about your crazy uncle believing Secretary Hillary Clinton has a body double and actually died in 2016, remember that buying conspiracy theories knows no party.
And, as with most online campaigns regarding the Princess of Wales, the majority of them also can’t help but bring Meghan, Duchess of Sussex into it:
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