Royal fans went into meltdown last week as Prince William pulled out of a service last-minute due to a ‘personal matter’, leading to Buckingham Palace issuing a statement to dismiss “wild conspiracy theories”. But an insider says that his wife, Kate – who is at home recovering from abdominal surgery – is ignoring the noise as best she can, while William, 42, is getting increasingly frustrated with having to continually fend off questions about his wife’s condition.
They say, “Kate has been trying not to pay any attention to all the noise and rumour mongering and William has been shielding her from it as best he can. But she goes online and sees what’s written, plus her aides are there to brief her and so she is, unfortunately, aware that there’s all kinds of hysteria and wildly inaccurate conspiracy theories going on.”
They add, “It’s very frustrating and unsettling because she doesn’t want people to be unduly worried, her loved ones especially, but at the same time she has no desire to feed into the rumours or give them any type of substance whatsoever by addressing the ridiculousness head-on.” 

Kate, 42, was seen last Monday for the first time since the surgery, in sunglasses and smiling as she was driven near Windsor Castle by mum Carole Middleton, 69.
But she has not done royal duties since Christmas Day and is still recovering following surgery at the London Clinic in January, where she was required to stay in hospital for almost a fortnight.
Kensington Palace said at the time that Kate was unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter. The mum-of-three apologised for postponing her Royal engagements following the surgery which was not cancer-linked.
The statement read, “The Princess of Wales wishes to apologise to all those concerned for the fact that she has to postpone her upcoming engagements.
“She looks forward to reinstating as many as possible, as soon as possible.”

Since then, Kate has been at home in Adelaide Cottage, near Windsor Palace recovering. But questions around the surgery she underwent was brought into the spotlight again as Prince William – whose dad King Charles III is battling cancer at the moment – pulled out of a memorial service for “personal reasons”. It caused a flurry of rumours and conspiracy theories on social media, with one fan comically suggesting Kate could be anonymous artist Banksy as “not a single Banksy” has appeared since she’s been out of the public domain.
Another light-hearted comment insinuated that the princess was growing her fringe out as that can take ‘three to four months’, while a third claimed she’s in hiding because of a hair colouring job gone wrong.
Other theories include, “Game of hide and seek got out of hand”, “mission to the moon”, that she’s dating Pete Davidson and that she’s recovering from Brazilian butt lift surgery. 

Kensington Palace swiftly please a statement saying, “We were really clear from the start we weren’t going to provide a running commentary on the Princess of Wales’s health and only provide significant updates. Obviously, we’ve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy.
“There has been much on social media but the Princess has a right to privacy and asks the public to respect that.”
But our insider says Kate has been contemplating whether to record a video statement to “put a stop to all the nonsense.”
“There’s been a lot of talk that she was contemplating some type of video statement, a public address if you will, to thank everyone for their support and let the world see that she is clearly coping just fine and on her way back to a full recovery.
“But this was ultimately nixed because she and William opted to make that brief and formal statement via the Palace instead,” they said.

“They hoped that would put a stop to all the outside nonsense but obviously it hasn’t, Kate continues to be aware of it all and she’s utterly fed up. William is also tired of fending off questions about how Kate’s doing, he feels very strongly that enough’s enough and people need to stop giving air or credence to these hurtful rumours. And so as much as they both want to keep quiet and let it all blow over, there’s definitely a sense of pressure on them to come out and give more details to the public than they’re prepared to. 
“As of now they’re holding tight and letting the situation calm down organically, but eventually they may decide to be more open and provide a more detailed account of what Kate’s been going through. It’s not something they want to do though, more of a last resort option they’re still hoping won’t be necessary.”
Last week, tickets went on sale for an event despite no confirmation the Princess of Wales would attend.

Using Kate’s picture, the British Army’s website said the Princess would review a Trooping the Colour dress rehearsal at Horse Guards Parade on June 8. 
“The soldiers will be inspected by Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, Colonel Irish Guards,” it said.
Royal sources swiftly revealed the department had not consulted palace officials – and insisted their attendance could not be confirmed.
But our source says Kate is desperate to get back to work.
“Kate’s extremely keen to get back to work as soon as possible, she hates the fact that William and others have been carrying the can in terms of extra responsibilities whilst she’s been resting. Of course she’s been told there’s nothing to feel guilty or bad about, it’s the least they can do and all everyone wants is for her to recover and take as long as she needs before resuming royal duty. 
“But what’s also stressing Kate out and making her anxious is that she knows once she does return to work there will be even more scrutiny about her appearance, that certain troublemakers will be looking for any signs of weakness or illness and continuing to scrutinise her for the foreseeable future. It’s exhausting and horrendous, quite honestly. She’s made of strong stuff but finding this so difficult, verging on utterly insufferable.”