Photo Credit: Prince and Pricess of Wales/Instagram
Princess of Wales Kate Middleton came out of months of hiding posting a video of herself explaining her disappearing, stating she is currently taking chemotherapy for cancer. This came two months after undergoing “major” abdominal surgery. While she didn’t share what type of cancer she has, this does follow a trend in more than a dozen cancers rising dramatically in adults under age 50 according to surgeon George Barreto at Flinders University. While Middleton says she’s getting stronger everyday, the message was released after a series of doctored photos of her had been released in recent months doctored to the point that global photo agencies had ordered to stop circulating the photos saying they both weren’t authentic and that Kensington Palace has a reputation problem where they cannot be trusted. They even had an Assistant Communications job listing that just became available in light of the scandal so in the words of Beyonce, “Sonebody’s getting fiiiii-rrrrrrred,” or apparently they already have been.
In the video she said, “In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment. This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.” She went on to say “We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.”
When it comes to privacy, that is just something the Royal Family gets the luxury of having. Princess Diana died trying to get away from the paparazzi and the commentary about Meghan Markle being ungrateful and somehow making up claims of racism were absurd. A friend of Middleton shared with The Sunday Times that the message happened “because of all the nonsense that has been around. I feel like the whole world has been gossiping about her and there is so much bullshit out there about her and her family. It was almost desperate that she had to do it.” Another friend said “She felt she had to do it because of who she is. It was more that she knows she is a public figure and has a wider leadership responsibility.” They added, “She also wants to be able to carry on with as active and normal a routine as possible.”
And all of this has to be triggering to someone that was bullied as a child, only to grow up and have people studying photos of her looking for imperfections and making while speculations about her life just because she wanted some time away to herself. Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate said, “When you’ve got a young lady, the Princess of Wales, who has suffered a medical emergency, you see people flooding in with conspiracy theories, you see them being amplified on social media platforms and pushed to millions and millions of people. What really, I think, annoyed me was seeing that she was then being revictimised by being blamed for not having come out immediately. Of course a family needs to have its time and its privacy. I think it’s the inhumanity of the way that social media has made us behave, forcing people to talk about things that can be very deeply personal. And also seeing of course the impact of that on our society, how quickly it was picked up by millions of people, and how much it’s done damage to the Royal family themselves.”
We simply pray that she gets her health back together because cancer is nothing to play with and it must have been an incredibly difficult decision to share it with the public at all.
Source
