Kate Middleton has cancer and we should all be ashamed of ourselves

Opinion: we delighted in joking about conspiracy theories, picked apart her Photoshop skills, all while the poor woman was quietly suffering with a scary diagnosis. 

Kate has urged for understanding and privacy for the sake of her young children. Image: Getty

When the news broke yesterday that princess Kate was having treatment for cancer, I felt awful.

And not just because a mum of three young children, a woman who is only 42 years old has a frightening disease.

I felt awful because we all had so much fun speculating and laughing about the whole situation.

There was the promise from the palace that whatever she had, it wasn’t cancer, the ill-considered release of the fateful Photoshopped Mother’s Day photo, the rumour that she had been replaced by a body double.

It was all very interesting, and everyone had an opinion.

We wanted the truth; we were practically rabid for it.

My school mums chat erupted with photos and conspiracy theories; my husband, staunchly anti-Royal and staunchly not giving a s**t about famous people even had an opinion on the Mother’s Day photo.

We gossiped and speculated even though we knew in our hearts that maybe something was really, seriously wrong.

What could keep a public figure out of the public eye for so long?

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RELATED: ‘A huge shock’: Kate’s emotional cancer explanation

Kate Middleton became the subject of conspiracy theories

My friend’s husband predicted this. In spite of the official word from the palace, he believed she had cancer. He was right.

I have a friend who has cancer right now and is going through treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation have stolen her energy, her senses of taste and smell. She is very sick, the treatment is making her feel sicker, but she faces every day bravely.

She’s a mum of two young kids, what else can she do?

She has a group of friends and family around her making food, driving her to treatment appointments, checking in on her. And maybe most importantly, that group of loving people are fiercely protecting her and treating her with kid gloves.

I’m sure Kate has all that at her disposal and more, but one thing she doesn’t have is privacy.

The video yesterday reminded me of the three times Kate stood outside St Mary’s Hospital in London, immediately after giving birth to George, Charlotte and Louis. She cradled her newborns and smiled, hair freshly blown out, make-up done, wearing a new outfit. Maybe her perineum stitches were itching, probably she was still bleeding into a nappy-sized pad, but Kate had to smile genuinely and pretend that everything was absolutely fine.

And yesterday, there she was again looking healthy and lovely, sunshine on her face, telling everyone the news. If Kate had had a choice of the script, she would have said, “I’m FINE. Thanks for caring so much but this is really, really hard and you’re just making it worse. Please leave me alone. Please.”

RELATED: Princess Kate finally breaks silence

The Princess of Wales has confirmed she has cancer. Image: Supplied

Conspiracy theorists should leave Kate Middleton alone

Why are we so rabid for information anyway? And now that we know the truth, will we be satisfied? Probably not. There will be theorists out there who will say it’s a hoax, that actually William has been cheating, or she’s been body snatched.

But we really need to lay off now.

I think we knew all along something was very wrong. And we were uncomfortable, so we made a lot of jokes. And as long as we didn’t know what exactly was wrong, we could still laugh.

Because ignorance is bliss, and maybe also a time to be silly, to make jokes, to scare away the darkness of a real thing like a young mum having cancer.

Originally published as Kate Middleton has cancer and we should all be ashamed of ourselves