Kate Middleton Fights Online Rumors, Issues Photo With Kids

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Kate breaks cover for Mother’s Day

Kate Middleton dramatically issued a statement accompanied by a new photograph Sunday, to mark U.K. Mother’s Day. Princess Kate, 42, beamed in a new photograph surrounded by her three children, Prince George, Prince Louis, and Princess Charlotte. The picture was taken by her husband, Prince William.

The photograph, which an official source told The Daily Beast was taken in Windsor in recent days, was released on social media channels Sunday morning with a message that read: “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day, C.”

The C stands for Catherine and the royals often use their first initial to denote a message has been written by them personally.

It was her first public comment of any kind since she underwent unspecified abdominal surgery in January. The palace will be hopeful the new image will serve to answer critics who have said that the news blackout on the Princess of Wales has fueled toxic online speculation about her health.

Kate was photographed by a paparazzi driving with her mother last week, and later in the week the Ministry of Defence “jumped the gun” by saying she would be attending the Trooping the Colour ceremony in June.

Although The Daily Beast understands that Kate does intend to be at the ceremony, her team wish to announce her presence at a time of their choosing.

Gary Goldsmith, Kate’s uncle, who was a contestant on the reality show Big Brother gave an insight into her health last week, saying: “I spoke to her mum, my sister, she’s getting the best care in the world… all the family’s done is put the wagons round and look after family first before anything else. They put a statement out and just said ‘She’s taking some time to recoup and will see you at Easter.’”

King Charles also posted a snap of him with his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at a polo match.

If you’re going into a panic that you forgot a card, relax: Mother’s Day in the U.S. is May 12.

Harry and Meghan visit Uvalde shooting family

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Saturday with the family of Irma Garcia, a schoolteacher who was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, where 21 people—two teachers and 19 children—were killed by a gunman on May 24, 2022. Two days later, Irma’s husband Joe Garcia died of a heart attack.

Irma Garcia’s nephew, John Martinez, told CNN Harry and Meghan had kept in contact with his family since the massacre.

“It was such a beautiful experience, they’re so nice and compassionate, very down to earth, humble people,” Martinez told CNN. “It was kind of by surprise, she [Meghan] had called my mom one random day and dropped the news on us not too long ago that she was coming to visit the kids and of course we got so excited,” he added. Meghan surprised Martinez’s mom with a cake for her birthday.

“They’re such a beautiful couple and I’m so blessed—so glad they came to check up on the family,” John wrote in social media messages of Harry and Meghan. “Can’t believe how loving and supportive they are especially to my amazing cousins. Meghan Markle singing my mom Happy Birthday was the cutest, most adorable thing ever—she even bought her a cake.”

With Meghan holding the birthday cake, the couple also led the family in singing “Happy Birthday” to Claudia Martinez, Irma’s sister. “Is everyone singing too?” Meghan joked at the beginning to nudge people into joining the singalong, calling out “my love” to Harry who nodded to confirm he would join her.

On May 26, 2022, two days after the massacre, Meghan visited the memorial to the victims of the shooting at Uvalde County Courthouse. “Today, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex visited Uvalde, Texas,” a spokesperson for the Sussexes said at the time. “She took this trip in a personal capacity as a mother, to offer her condolences and support in person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief.”

In January 2023, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation announced it had raised $13 million and distributed $3 million to good causes. In an “impact report,” Archewell said the projects it had donated to included a play park in Uvalde.

The couple’s appearance in Uvalde followed Meghan’s at SXSW panel, “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen,” alongside Katie Couric, Brooke Shields, Nancy Wang Yuen, and Errin Haines.

Asked how she handled “the seemingly endless toxicity” that pervades social media, Meghan said she had endured the “bulk of the bullying and abuse” while pregnant with her children, Archie and Lilibet. “You have to really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful. It’s not catty, it’s cruel,” she said. “Why you would do that?”

Car rams Buckingham Palace

A car smashed into the gates of Buckingham Palace at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Armed cops were on the scene in seconds, and a man was arrested at gunpoint. A witness to the incident, told the Sun: “I heard a loud bang, and I looked over and the car had crashed into Buckingham Palace. Police were on the scene pretty quickly—and they got the man out and arrested him.” There were no reports of any injuries.

A royal source told The Daily Beast there were no members of the royal family in residence at the palace at the time, and said repairs to the gates were underway.

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Diana’s brother reveals childhood sexual abuse

Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, has written a new memoir in which he reveals that he was sexually abused as an 11-year old by a female staff member at his exclusive boarding school. He says that he self-harmed and forced himself to be sick in reaction to the abuse in an extract from his memoir published exclusively in the Mail on Sunday. Spencer, 59, says that an assistant matron manipulated him and his peers into thinking they were having romantic relationship with her when really she was a “voracious pedophile.”

Spencer says the unnamed woman first “kissed me on the lips,” then “promoted me to the second rank of her reverse harem: those she intimately touched.” He says she chose one boy each term to “share her bed and would use him for intercourse.” He says he only addressed the abuse decades later, and believes it triggered him to want “full sex from a too-early age,” with the result that he lost his virginity aged 12 to a prostitute in Italy.

Edward: Sophie is “an absolutely brilliant rock”

Prince Edward has described the support his wife Sophie gives him as “critical, absolutely critical. She’s been an absolutely brilliant rock and I’m incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me. Hopefully we’ve been a really brilliant partnership. We’re very lucky, we’ve got two, of what we would think are particularly brilliant children, who are forging such different paths for themselves. I think that’s also equally fascinating.”

Edward was speaking in an interview to mark his 60th birthday today on ITV’s Love Your Weekend show in the U.K. previewed in the Sunday Telegraph. Of adjusting to his new title as Duke of Edinburgh, once held by father Prince Philip, Edward said: “It was a huge privilege but also quite a lot of weight of expectation as well. I mean, there’s an awful lot of legacy that came with that title and everything that my father had done. Especially when you’re not inheriting it, this is a choice… that comes with all the expectations that people have. It’s just the weirdest and strangest feeling. You walk into a room and, particularly still today, there are name places on a card, and I still look around going ‘Yes, but where am I sitting?’”

His father was, quite simply, “an extraordinary man,” Edward said. “He had an extraordinary mind. He loved design, he loved innovation, he was brilliant with all sorts of people. Sometimes it didn’t necessarily come across that way, but he was actually brilliant with people. He was always, always encouraging everybody. You sort of needed to get to know him.”

Edward recalled his father teaching his daughter Lady Louise to drive a horse-drawn carriage. “It was entirely off her own bat. I mean, you know, just one day, ‘Can I go out with you and go sit on the boxes?’ He was like, ‘Absolutely.’ He never was going to say no! He took her out with the team, and I think it was only the second time, he was driving along and he said, ‘Do you want to have a go?’ and she didn’t have time to even answer the question, he just handed the reins across.”

This week in royal history

On March 13, last year, the royals were out in force for the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey—Charles’ first as monarch. This year (the service is due to take place Monday), he won’t be there, and neither (presumably) will Kate. Expect Queen Camilla and William to head the family, unless Prince Andrew decides to barge to the front, of course.

Unanswered questions

Will the photo of Kate Middleton and her kids dampen the feverish rumors about the state of her health? Harry and Meghan’s powerful presence in Uvalde and Meghan’s eloquence at SXSW showed them doing their best kind of advocacy. What will they do next?