Kate Middleton has asked for space, so why are we treating her health like a spectator sport?

“The Princess of Wales may be a public figure, but she's not public property.”

Here's what we know: Princess of Wales Kate Middleton has been ill. She's recovering. She doesn't want to talk about it.

When Kensington Palace first told the world the Princess of Wales would not return to public duties until after Easter following a planned abdominal surgery, they also shared a message from the Princess herself. “The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate. She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

But, it seems the public did not understand. Immediately, calls were made for more information, the speculation went stratospheric, and in the absence of actual news – after a long, dignified silence from the palace – conspiracy theories followed. Users on X cruelly joked the recovery time was due to cosmetic surgery, claiming Kate had undergone a BBL, others bantered that she was just growing out a bad haircut. Some pointed to problems in her marriage, others to her mental health. The hashtag #whereiskate began trending on social and respected publishers around the world weighed in on the subject.

Earlier this month, the first picture of Kate since Christmas – an unsanctioned paparazzi shot of Kate being driven in a car near her home in Windsor by her mother – began circulating internationally. Some publishers in the UK chose not to print the picture out of respect, but that didn't stop the rumour mill from starting up again. Users on X argued it was a Madam Tussauds waxwork; others said the picture was generated using AI, and there was still no evidence that Kate was safe and well.

Then, things got even more sinister. Social media users and even newspapers started weaponising the theories about Kate, arguing that if she wanted them to stop, she should post a recent picture of herself or share more details about her medical situation to validate the story told by the palace. One article insisted, “The only way to stop the ugly rumours and speculation is for the royals to come clean about Kate and Charles's health.”

On Mother's Day, under enormous pressure, Kate posted a picture of herself and her children, said to be taken by Prince William earlier in the month, to her official Instagram account. “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. C,” she wrote. However, the picture was later issued with a kill notice by top photo agencies, including the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images, after concerns the picture was “manipulated” or edited at the source, and Kate was forced to issue an apology, admitting she had experimented with editing.

Despite photo editing being a regular practice for the royal couple – especially for family photos that require their three children to be looking and smiling in the same direction at the same time – social media and traditional media was quick to fire back up. “Why did Kate edit her family photo? How an ‘amateur’ attempt backfired," ran one headline, while another simply stated: “Meghan would ‘never’ make photo mistake like Princess of Wales, say sources”.

I don't know about you, but it looks a lot like bullying. It feels as though the world is getting a warped satisfaction from another person's suffering. As for the hastily edited images? They feel more like an act of desperation than manipulation to me.

Whatever is going on with Kate's health, she doesn't wish to discuss it; as is her right, just as it's everybody's right to choose to keep intimate details of their health private. Kate may be a public figure, but she's not public property. Whether she was a princess, a public servant, a paralegal or a paramedic, she doesn't owe us an explanation of what's going on with her body.

There seems to be a bewildering lack of empathy, and in it's place, a wild sense of entitlement. The way she's being chased down feels sickening and damaging, and we know from the treatment of Meghan – and Diana before her – how dangerous this kind of scrutiny can be. However, people don't realise, or perhaps they just don't care.

Kate's absence has turned into a shameful spectator sport, where her well-being is being discussed over family dinners and on TikTok videos. The more people buy into the conspiracies and the speculation, the further we seem to get from the person at the centre and the more detached we're becoming from compassion: because why are we trying to bully and blackmail a sick woman into performing for our entertainment?

The scrutiny on Kate feels so heavy, many people in full health would break under the weight of it, and we've already been told: Kate is not in full health. Instead, what's likely an already tough recovery has been made all the more intense, scary and pressurised before Kate's even returned to public duty, where every move she makes will be dissected.

But more to the point, why do we care? Is it about concern or dominance? The obsession with forcing Kate to bend to the public's will feels controlling. Why must we see her face now and not in a few week's time when she's comfortable? It's worrying how at ease people seem to be with the misery caused by aiming the magnifying glass so obsessively on a woman who's asked us to please let her recover in peace. Kate's reluctance to share her health with strangers is not the problem, the toxic reaction is.

At the end of the day, Kate Middleton is a human being trying to get better in private, so can we not just back off?

For more from GLAMOUR's Senior Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk