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Prince William affair rumors, long ignored by the mainstream media following Kensington Palace's denials, were published by major news outlets after being joked about on U.S. television.
The palace PR crisis over Kate Middleton's absence from public life spun even further out of control after Late Show host Stephen Colbert mentioned the drama on Wednesday's episode.
Social media has been rife with wild conspiracy theories based on the fact that no clear, reliable image of Kate has been available since Christmas Day, and the only officially released portrait turned out to have been doctored. The princess underwent abdominal surgery in January.
Some of that rampant speculation has suggested the couple are secretly divorcing due to long-standing affair rumors, which are not supported by any evidence and have been denied by the palace.
Colbert began by stating: "The kingdom has been all aflutter by the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton." He then said, "Internet sleuths are guessing" that Kate's "absence may be related to her husband and the future king of England, William, having an affair."
The Guardian, the New York Post, ET, Cosmopolitan, TMZ and OK! magazine were among those to report on the monologue.
The gossip first entered public consciousness after a story appeared in The Sun in 2019 suggesting Kate had fallen out with a rural neighbor. The original story was later taken offline.
A more detailed rumor was circulated days later by gossip magazine In Touch, before the palace told journalists the story "was totally wrong and false," The Daily Beast reported.
Since then, the mainstream British media and many U.S. outlets have avoided being drawn into the gossip, even after an Instagram post detailing rumors about William's marriage went very, very viral in summer 2022.
In doing so, they sacrificed traffic, which means money, out of respect for the palace's insistence the rumor was false. However, now The Guardian, a serious news brand, has printed the rumor.
The gossip, while without any evidence to back it up, was so ubiquitous on social media that it had already entered the shared consciousness of many British people years ago, meaning none of these stories will have come as news.
But they do serve as a barometer for how respected and even feared the palace is by journalists. Based on recent days, not as much as it was in 2019.
And now, any effort the palace might make to dampen the rumors would have to counter the damage caused by the doctored photo of Kate that aides released on March 10.
Phil Chetwynd, global news director of Agence France-Presse, was asked on the Media Show on BBC Radio 4 whether he regarded Kensington Palace as a trusted source: "No, absolutely not. Like with anything, when you're let down by a source the bar is raised."
"We sent out notes to all our teams at the moment to be absolutely super more vigilant about the content coming across our desk," he said, "even from what we would call trusted sources."
All in all, the palace, Kate, and William all have a major crisis on their hands, which is, if anything, growing rather than shrinking as the conspiracy theories on social media get more and more wild.
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.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more