‘Caught them off guard’: Claims senior staffers ‘didn’t know’ about Kate’s surgery

As the Kate Middleton conspiracy theories continue to run wild, even her senior staffers have been left in the dark, a new report claims.

As the Kate Middleton conspiracy theories continue to run wild, even her senior staffers have been left in the dark, a new report claims.

The whereabouts of the Princess of Wales has been the centre of speculation for weeks now — which went into overdrive after a failed Photoshopping attempt led to a mandatory kill notice from the world’s biggest photo agencies and an awkward apology from the 42-year-old mum of three.

But now Middleton’s own staffers have added another layer of confusion to what is now being dubbed ‘KateGate’, saying they had no prior knowledge about her surgery and have been unable to get in touch with her.

The Mother’s Day photo that sparked the scandal. Picture: Kensington Palace/Instagram

The Princess of Wales has seemingly vanished. Picture: princeandprincessofwales/Instagram

“A few of Kate’s senior staffers haven’t been able to see or speak to her, and they didn’t even know about the surgery until it was announced, so it’s caught them off guard,” a source told Us Weekly.

The source also said Kate has only just started opening up to members of her inner circle about her operation and recovery.

“Only a few people know what’s really going on, and they’re tight-lipped,” they said.

On Thursday, Instagram added an “altered photo” warning to Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day photo after she admitted to editing the picture.

“Altered photo/video,” the message states under the now-viral photo of Kate with her three children.

“The same altered photo was reviewed by independent fact-checkers in another post.”

The apology from Kate. Picture: KensingtonRoyal/Twitter

Kate shared the photo on Sunday, with eagle-eyed fans quick to point out some odd discrepancies featured in the photo.

Several picture agencies including the Associated Press, Getty Images and Reuters pulled the photo, issuing a “kill notice” due to manipulation of the image.

“At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,” a message from the Associated Press read.

An apology was posted by Kate from the official X account she shares with her husband.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” she said.

“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”

Kensington Palace has refused to release the unedited version of the picture despite the blunder.

Originally published as ‘Caught them off guard’: Claims senior staffers ‘didn’t know’ about Kate’s surgery