Princess Kate has been spotted. For the first time since she underwent abdominal surgery in January, the Princess of Wales was seen out in public.
The first photos of her were taken and released Monday morning. In them, she is seen riding passenger in a vehicle being driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, near Windsor Castle. Kate wears a dark coat and dark round sunglasses. She also wears a serious expression, as does her mother, who is in a dark coat as well.
Princess Kate last made a public appearance on Christmas and was hospitalized at the London Clinic in mid-January for a “planned abdominal surgery.” Kensington Palace refrained from specifying the reason for the operation, but Harper’s Bazaar learned it wasn’t cancerous.
The palace said at the time that Kate’s engagements had been postponed and that she wouldn’t return to work until after Easter, which falls on March 31 this year. They added that Kate “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. Kensington Palace will, therefore, only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’s progress when there is significant new information to share.”
For several weeks afterward, there was radio silence from the palace and the rest of the royals on Kate’s condition. But after speculation rose online about the princess’s whereabouts, the palace said in a statement shared to Bazaar last week: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.”
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
