According to images released by US publication TMZ, Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, was seen in public on Monday for the first time since undergoing stomach surgery in mid-January.
After leaving the hospital on January 29, the 42-year-old princess, whose husband Prince William is the heir apparent to the British throne, has been recuperating mostly at their home in Windsor, west of London.
According to TMZ, which is a celebrity news website, Kate was driving while sporting sunglasses in photos that were shot on Monday close to Windsor Castle.
The Daily Mail and The Sun, two UK media publications, have decided not to publish the images.
“We are not running them out of respect for her privacy whilst she recovers from her operation in the timescale we were given for it,” ITV News royal editor Chris Ship said on X, formerly Twitter.
The sighting coincides with a wave of conspiracy theories circulating on social media over the renowned diligent and obedient princess’s disappearance from the public eye.
Despite Kensington Palace’s explicit statement at the time of her operation that she would be “unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,” the rumors have persisted. It also maintained there was no connection between the procedure and cancer.
With a “personal matter” as his excuse, William withdrew from a public memorial service last week, stoking additional speculations.
Kensington Palace declined to elaborate on the last-minute withdrawal, but said Kate continued to be “doing well.”
Kate was admitted to the hospital nearly at the same time as news broke that King Charles, William’s father, had been hospitalized for surgery on a benign prostate disease and later found to have an unrelated malignancy.
Throughout his medical treatment, the 75-year-old king has also abstained from public obligations, though he has continued to attend church services and his weekly audience with the prime minister.
