Before we begin, this isn’t an article about the Princess of Wales, nor is this article about her private medical information.

Instead, this is a call to arms. Because, honestly, we need to unpick what has been going on with everyone but Princess Catherine over the last 10 weeks.

On Friday (22 March) the Princess of Wales released a video statement revealing she has received a cancer diagnosis. This came after weeks of frenzied speculation by social media users and media outlets on the reason for her leave of absence from public duty. She described the diagnosis as a “huge shock”, and said that her family have experienced “an incredibly tough couple of months”.

Following what quickly became a lesson in how we dehumanise those in the public eye (and how we find it all too easy to take our speculation to the faceless abyss of social media), an outpouring of shock and support flooded the online discourse. Commenters even began to retract their previous statements now her private matters no longer appeared gag-worthy material.

In one high-profile retraction, Blake Lively apologised on her Instagram Stories for previously making light of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ doctored Mother’s Day image, saying that a now-deleted post on her Betty Buzz business account “around the ‘Photoshop fails frenzy’” has left her “mortified” upon her learning of Princess Catherine’s cancer diagnosis. Blake Lively wrote “I’m sorry”, before adding “Sending love and well wishes to all, always”.

Having ranged from AI-generated images and body double allegations to ‘blink twice if you need help’ ‘jokes’ and Kate-gate memes that spawned by the second, the rumour mill has now abruptly halted.

But before the news cycle moves on and those responsible write off their speculation as ‘jokes’ that just got out of hand, let’s reflect – because this is a reminder that as a woman in 2024, the world (online and offline) is still a sinister place to exist.

“The speculation surrounding the Princess of Wales says something sinister about what it’s like to be a woman in the public eye”