Kate Middleton was notably absent during Tuesday’s annual Diplomatic Corps Reception at Buckingham Palace with Prince William, King Charles III, and Queen Camilla all in attendance to welcome the 900 guests. Her absence raised concern and speculation as it was the first time in a decade she’d missed this important event. So, what’s keeping her away?
The Princess of Wales has been a consistent figure at the white-tie event since 2013 and only missed it once in 2014 due to a New York visit. The reason for her absence was recorded on the Court Circular, which lists her attending a meeting of her ‘Early Years team’ in Windsor Castle, This means she was quite far from London hours before the Buckingham Palace reception and so unable to make it.
Major royal events such as the Diplomatic Corps Reception, which sees the King and Queen and other Royal Family members welcome over 500 members of the Diplomatic Corps in the State Rooms, are publicized eight months in advance, which gives you an idea of how meticulous organizing the royals calendar must be. However, we have to wonder why a meeting couldn’t be rescheduled to make time for such an important annual event.
Some shrugged off Kate’s absence on Tuesday as part of her ongoing recovery from cancer, but others are suspicious and say she should have prioritized the reception instead of her meeting. As Britain’s future queen, her mere presence alongside William, Charles and Camilla was also important. Her absence certainly leaves room for unwanted speculation and adds fuel to the fire of the rather cruel theory she’s milking her cancer story to avoid doing public engagements.
She be mingling and guests would be asking about her health post-precancerous cells. It’s a long night and she can only lie so much to a guest’s face. She might croak the truth. William doesn’t want to be burdened with her and play bodyguard.
#protectthelie
— Shern Montaineux
(@she_montaineux) November 19, 2024
According to royal biographer Robert Jobson, the mother-of-three may not be feeling physically ready yet to return to a full schedule of public engagements. He said she’s “very aware of what the future holds so she’s taking the time to focus on getting fit and strong again while she can and doing it on her terms.”
Royal author Robert Hardman added that Kate would be focused on office work for now, especially with her ongoing commitment to early childhood development. He said “there will be a gradual scaling up of her activities in the new year, perhaps with some office-based engagements relating to her early years work.”
He suggested: “The Palace will be keen to manage expectations. If she did start returning to major social events, that would lead people to think things are back to normal, which isn’t the case. So I think there’s no pressure on her to do that.”
Kate has only carried a few public engagements since she announced she was cancer-free in September. She and William visited Southport in mid-October to show their support to the families of the slain victims from the Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July. She was also at the Festival of Remembrance and Remembrance Sunday.
Aside from her Early Years work, another speculation is that she missed the Diplomatic Corps Reception because she’s busy preparing for this year’s Together at Christmas concert at Westminster Abbey, of which the theme, “how much we need each other, especially in the most difficult times of our lives,” is inspired by her cancer journey.
