DupliKATE drama: Celebs who use body doubles

Suggestions that a lookalike was used in the recent video of Princess Catherine are crazy, say critics. But a number of famous people have used body doubles in the past. Have your say.

They’re calling her the “DupliKATE”.

Online sceptics say the woman filmed alongside Prince William outside a produce store in Windsor on the weekend is not Princess Catherine, but a body double.

They point to the woman’s height, or the fact that other people in the clip seem oblivious about the royal couple’s presence, as the reasons for their scepticism.

Others say these claims are bonkers, and of course it’s her.

Some have suggested she might look a bit different in the video because of recent health issues.

The British man who shot the footage, Nelson Silva, told The Sun he saw the royals “with my own eyes” at Windsor and it was “a completely relaxed situation”. The conspiracy theorists were “delusional” and “invested in the drama,” he said.

And the Princess Catherine lookalike Heidi Agan said it’s definitely not her (Agan) in the video.

Writing in the UK Telegraph, royals columnist Camilla Tominey said sane people were getting sucked into conspiracy theories.

“I appreciate the Princess is dressed down in leggings and a jumper, hasn’t had her hair styled and is wearing minimal makeup but it’s definitely HRH. What possible other explanation could there be?,” she wrote.

Kate Middleton (left) and Heidi Agan (R), a Kate Middleton lookalike. Supplied

So is this all just preposterousness, a fringe conspiracy theory that’s somehow tipped over into the mainstream? If so, why are so many buying into it?

When the Australian social media influencer Jeff van de Zandt asked his 109,000 Instagram followers on Wednesday, “So do we think this is really her?”, 53 per cent of respondents said “No”.

Over the past few years some high-profile people have been accused of using body doubles, most famously the former US First Lady Melania Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. There’s also a wild conspiracy theory that the performer Avril Lavigne was replaced by a body double after the “original” Avril died in 2003.

The claims about Trump, Putin and Lavingne have all been denied and debunked – but there have been a number of cases throughout history of high-profile people using doppelgangers.

The most well-known example is probably the British General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, who was impersonated by the solder M.E. Clifton James on a trip to Gibraltar and Algiers during World War Two, the substitution designed to dupe German intelligence.

British military leader Field Marshal Lord Bernard Montgomery.

Associate Professor Josh Roose.

And a number of dictators, including Josef Stalin (Russia), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Manuel Noriega (Panama) and Fidel Castro (Cuba) were all reported to have used body doubles at times for political or security purposes.

A number of celebrities have been known to use a doppelganger to divert media attention. Comedian Jim Carrey reportedly hired a local lookalike to impersonate him during a stay in Jerusalem in 2006, allowing him to enjoy a holiday undisturbed, while TMZ stated that Kim Kardashian “faked out paps with a lookalike” during a visit to Mexico in 2016.

Kim Kardashian at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party this year. She’s been reported to use lookalikes to fool photographers. Picture: Michael Tran/AFP

The reports have been denied and debunked, but former US First Lady Melania Trump was accused of using a body double on occasion. Picture: AFP/Jim Watson

And in 2018, an Ed Sheeran lookalike was hired to attend the unveiling of a wax figure of the British singer at Madame Tussaud’s in Berlin.

“We had him drive up in a limousine and hoped that the fans would go berserk and that is exactly what happened,” Reuters quoted a Madame Tussauds spokesperson as saying at the time.

So there have been a few examples of body doubles being used – and according to political sociologist Josh Roose, an Associate Professor at Deakin University, those few cases are key to how this current theory about Princess Catherine has gained traction.

“All conspiracy theories rely on an element of truth. That’s what pulls people in. Then the truth evolves,” he said.

Nico Eckl (r), an Ed Sheeran Double, at the launch of a wax figure of the singer at Madame Tussaud’s Berlin. Picture: Jens Kalaene/dpa

Assoc Prof Roose said people were increasingly seeking out “non conventional online sources” for their news, and often these were “very sketchy”.

“There is a sphere of grifters and activists and others building their own websites, and what generates profit on these websites is not just controversy, but conspiracy,” he said.

Rumours that circulated on the weekend that a “big announcement” was coming from the Royal Family were “all proven to be the act of online conspiracy theorists generating content for their websites,” he said.

Kensington Palace’s release of a doctored photo of Princess Catherine and her children on UK Mother’s Day “acted as force multiplier for every conspiracy that’s out there,” Assoc Prof Roose said.

It was unusual that these theories were swirling around the Royal Family, because ordinarily the institution was regarded as a bastion of “stability and tradition,” he said.

“There an enormous amount of distrust and hysteria about what’s going on. For the palace to regain credibility, it’s absolutely essential they’re transparent about what has occurred.”

Originally published as DupliKATE drama: Celebs who use body doubles