Prince William likely distressed as Princess Catherine endures Diana-like scrutiny, royal expert claims

Just like her predecessor Princess Diana, Princess Catherine of Wales, has been under the media microscope in recent months firstly after disappearing from the public eye following surgery in January and secondly, with the release of a heavily edited family photograph.

During an interview with Good Morning Britain, Roya Nikkah, the royal editor for the Sunday Times, has weighed in, suggesting that Prince William may be experiencing emotional distress due to the treatment of his wife and possibly perceiving parallels to the scrutiny faced by his mother, Princess Diana, during his upbringing.

‘What does William make of the coverage?’ – @susannareid100

Sunday Times Royal Editor @RoyaNikkhah says William feels he’s ‘seeing elements’ of the hounding his mother experienced with Kate amid the demand and interest over her medical privacy and ‘that’s hurting him.’ pic.twitter.com/zFJlLzeKs5

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 18, 2024

Nikkah was addressing the bizarre online conspiracy theories that have surrounded the Princess since she underwent her surgery and subsequently took a step back from her public duties to recuperate.

Nikkah speculated, “Having seen his mother go through quite a lot of that, the hounding of his mother, I think he feels he is seeing elements of that being breached again in terms of the demands and screeches at his wife over her medical privacy and that is hurting him.”

Less than two months after her surgery, the storm surrounding Princess Catherine only escalated when Kensington Palace released a heavily edited image of her and her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, on Mother’s Day.

The manipulated image, which was supposed to mark her first official appearance since her surgery, instead drew intense scrutiny and was “killed” by six top picture agencies. 

The outcry prompted the princess to issue a rare statement on her official social media accounts.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she began.

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”

The media response was meteoric, fuelling further conjecture about the circumstances around its release.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain host, Susannah Reid about William feeling “sensitive” about the similarities to Diana’s treatment, Nikkah responded, “He always has been, ever since he has been a child and since he has been with Catherine since university.”

But the royal expert has elsewhere revealed that Princess Catherine will likely address her health condition once she resumes her public engagements after Easter, as planned.

“I think she is going to be much more open about what’s happened, I think she will do it in a natural organic way like on an engagement,” Nikkah said.

“We have seen William at engagements in the past few weeks and everyone is asking him how is Kate, saying please give these flowers to your wife. I think when she’s out and about she will be asked about it.

“I’m not saying she will go into every detail about what surgery she has had but she might find a way to speak about her recovery about the places it’s taken her mentally and physically, we know mental health is an important thing for them, that is the way she is going to let the people know has been going on.”