The Most Outrageous Conspiracy Theories About Prince William And Kate Middleton's Marriage

Conspiracy theories around the British monarchy are nothing new. On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, heartbreakingly died in a late-night traffic collision in Paris while attempting to flee paparazzi. Amid the outpouring of public grief, theories began to emerge that the royals were behind the tragic deaths. The theory was supported by Dodi's father, businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, and spoken of in serious terms by the media, despite the lack of evidence. The "Diana was murdered" conspiracy theory took off in a different era; if it happened today, it would likely set social media ablaze. But that was not the only outrageous conspiracy theory to gain traction in the public eye.

In early 2024, the British royal family found itself at the center of internet discourse after royal watchers noticed that Catherine (formerly Kate Middleton), the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, had been missing from the public eye for many weeks. With #WhereIsKate trending on social media, several messaging missteps by Buckingham Palace turned Middleton's absence into a continuous mill of conspiracy theories, some of them verging on the fantastical.

It was later confirmed that Kate Middleton had been diagnosed with cancer and had been receiving treatment before returning to public life. But while the royal family was avoiding revealing any health issues, scores of stories invented by internet users sprang up to fill the vacuum, several of which perpetuate online. Here are some of the wildest stories that have become attached to William and Kate since their marriage.

Monarchy enthusiasts often turn to the British royal family for sentimental reasons. People of all ages harbor a deep affection for the kind of romantic love portrayed in, say, classic Disney movies, and the idea of royal love — a girl falling in love with a prince and eventually becoming a princess — is a story many find difficult to resist.

Prince William and Kate Middleton met as students at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, in 2001, where they were living in the same halls of residence. Their romance is said to have bloomed from there. However, prompted by some liberal storytelling by the hit show "The Crown," which suggests Middleton's mother, Carole, played a decisive role in getting the two youngsters together, some think the story of their pairing goes back even further. 

It has been claimed that Carole was behind the decision to send Kate to St. Andrews when it was announced that the prince would be studying there, and that she has maintained a strategic role in their wedding and marriage ever since. Even more spuriously, various sources have claimed that the two were considered an ideal match from childhood, and that their paths had crossed as children when attending polo matches.

When the internet's countless royal watchers began asking #WhereIsKate at the start of 2024, the princess' recent absence from public life became one of the biggest talking points of the year. One social-media-driven theory proposed that the Princess of Wales' disappearance had occurred after she had learned of an affair involving her husband, Prince William, with some speculating that the prince's mistress was a woman frequently spotted at public events with the pair, named Rose Hanbury.

Hanbury, whose formal title is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, is married to the Marquess of Cholmondeley and is the granddaughter of one of Queen Elizabeth II's bridesmaids. Internet sleuths have taken the crossing of the esteemed families' paths in recent years as evidence that William and Hanbury may have been having an affair in plain sight, or at least been cavalier in terms of making appearances together despite their perceived illicit relationship. They have also claimed that Kate, having learned of the affair, was now seeking a divorce.

There has never been any solid evidence that the future king has a mistress or has ever cheated on his wife. Nevertheless, rumors continue to swirl and Rose Hanbury remains a subject of scrutiny, not least from those who have a hunch that some hidden rupture in the marriage remains undisclosed.

During the absence from public life of Catherine, Princess of Wales, in the early part of 2024, increasingly frenzied royal watchers and gossipmongers cast a wide net for possible explanations. The official story put out by the Buckingham Palace press team was that Kate had taken an extended break from her duties to undergo "scheduled surgery." But the statement released to the public failed to disclose the princess' cancer diagnosis, which would come later and after the #WhereIsKate speculation had reached fever pitch. In response to the official statement's lack of specifics, some corners of the internet began to speculate that the surgery wasn't a medical intervention at all.

One of the most salacious rumors suggested that Kate had been recovering from cosmetic surgery, such as a "Brazilian Butt-lift" (BBL), a popular though controversial procedure that has become notorious due to its potential health risks. BBLs and other types of cosmetic surgery can often have a long and arduous recovery time, and some suggested that the princess' procedure had resulted in complications that had kept her out of the public eye.

Others claimed that Kate had run into health issues after using Ozempic, an increasingly popular weight-loss drug originally designed to treat diabetes. The drug is known to cause several side effects, including "Ozempic face," and some believed that the princess may have been waiting to bounce back from a bad reaction to the medication.

In 2024, official yet vague confirmation that Catherine, Princess of Wales, was undergoing a planned surgery, coupled with a lack of details as to her condition, laid the groundwork for the #WhereIsKate furor. However, another misstep from Buckingham Palace, which has faced many scandals during its existence, made the situation far worse.

In March 2024, the palace released a photo of Kate and her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, the first image of Kate since her disappearance from public life. At first glance, the photo looked like a typical portrayal of idyllic royal family life. But within hours, commentators had begun to question whether the image was genuine, with some noticing that it had been photoshopped — badly. Some suggested that the image was a composite and that Kate's face had been lifted from a previous shoot.

A message purportedly from Kate herself claimed that she was the one behind the botched photoshop job, but the internet was not buying it. Some online commentators believed that the poorly executed release was a smokescreen to cover the fact that the princess was possibly in a coma or that she had died, and that the family was attempting to buy time before making the announcement. Of course, Kate has since re-emerged into public life, scotching such wild theories, though that doesn't stop hardcore believers from altering their ideas to continue the conspiracy narrative.

In early 2024, with the internet ablaze with speculation that Catherine, Princess of Wales, was estranged from her husband and seeking a divorce, potentially in recovery after a botched cosmetic intervention, or mortally ill or even dead, attention then turned to the actions of her husband, Prince William, and the palace in general for clues as to where the truth may lie. And that's where speculation got even more bizarre.

When amateur footage emerged purportedly showing Kate visiting a farm shop with William, some began to speculate that the woman involved wasn't the Princess of Wales at all, but an imposter her husband was using as a smokescreen to cover up Kate's absence. Similarly, another image of Kate, this time traveling in the passenger seat of a car while wearing large sunglasses, raised speculation that the royals were intentionally attempting to mislead the public with the use of a stand-in. (Don't worry, the picture above is of Kate's waxwork at Madame Tussaud's.)

Indeed, internet sleuths identified a woman who had been working as a professional Princess of Wales impersonator named Heidi Agan, who they said was potentially being used as an actress in the deception. Agan found herself hounded on social media, though she later spoke to the press to deny that she had been involved in any attempted cover-up.

Many of the conspiracy theories concerning Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, have derived from assumptions regarding the extreme lengths that the royal family might go to in the name of keeping up appearances. With the Windsors' immense wealth, power, and connections in mind, some have come to a conclusion straight out of science fiction: "William and Co." might conceivably have replaced Kate Middleton with a lab-born clone crafted from her DNA, who would be genetically identical to her.

That Kate had been replaced by a lookalike or body-double chimed with other famous conspiracy theories, such as those surrounding Paul McCartney, who was said to have been replaced by a fake Paul — or "Faul" — figure in 1966. But the introduction of human cloning into the mix takes the matter into a more sinister and, frankly, ludicrous realm of speculation. Thankfully, out of all the theories this remains one of the most fringe, with the most visible YouTube account peddling the story having just over 5,000 subscribers as of late 2024.

Some of the speculation regarding William and Kate's marriage focused on their relationship with William's estranged brother, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle. Harry and Markle had taken the unusual step of distancing themselves from royal life to seek lucrative opportunities in the American entertainment industry. This caused a major rift within the royal family, aspects of which have been revealed in Harry's memoir, "Spare," and in countless gossip columns. Such developments among the younger royals seemingly altered the perception of William and Kate among royal watchers, who instead of seeing them as king and queen in waiting, have suggested that they, too, are potential reality TV stars for hire. 

Theories circulated that Kate was due to appear on "The Masked Singer" or the European game show "Traitors," which certainly would have raised eyebrows among her royal peers. None of this is true, though Kate's uncle, Gary Goldsmith, once appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" in the U.K.

As a hereditary form of power, monarchy is all about bloodlines, and those who marry into the royal family are expected to keep the institution alive with children of their own. In the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, some reports claimed that the royals had her fertility tested prior to her marriage to Prince Charles to ensure that she was a suitable match.

Similar suggestions have also emerged about the marriage of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales. It was claimed that Kate had used a surrogate in the birth of her first child, Prince George, back in 2015, and that she had sported a fake baby bump to contribute to the illusion. Suspicions had been raised online by the princess having managed to maintain her incredibly slim figure despite three pregnancies, but though the use of a surrogate is certainly possible, others have noted that the number of people involved in such an audacious conspiracy would make it close to impossible to keep it a secret. Outlets later noted that the speculation had originated on Russian news channels, raising the prospect of deliberate disinformation.

To complicate matters further, in 2024, a post circulated that suggested the Cambridges had published a post on social media exposing Harry and Meghan's supposed use of a surrogate, though Snopes has since debunked the story as a hoax.

Like many rumors concerning the royal family, those about Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, were sometimes later taken to extremes. In 2015, the U.S. tabloid magazine The Globe claimed that the fertility test in which Diana was forced to participate led to the birth of a secret child, which occurred after the doctor involved stole samples of the couple's semen and eggs. It is a bizarre claim that has been roundly debunked, though that has not prevented similar stories emerging in relation to William and Kate.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed that Prince William has at least one mistress and potentially one child unknown to the general public. Some say that Jecca Craig, his ex-girlfriend whom he was dating before he met Kate, is secretly the mother of one of William's children, born just months before his and Kate's wedding. Elsewhere, it was speculated that one of Rose Hanbury's children with her husband, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, is actually William's.

When the #WhereIsKate furor was in full swing, Kate's withdrawal from royal duties was closely linked with such unfounded allegations of affairs, illegitimate children, and a supposedly impending divorce. Yet, as of late 2024, both Kate and William remain harmoniously married.

The royal family, and the Prince and Princess of Wales in particular, endeavor to portray their lives as ordered and idyllic. Like many celebrities, the royals have a curated public persona, and there are undoubtedly many aspects of their lives that they prefer to keep private. This has given rise to rampant speculation about what Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and Prince William's lives are like behind closed doors. In the absence of candid portrayals of the couple off camera, online commentators have suggested that the marriage of the future king and queen isn't as harmonious as it would appear to be.

According to some unsubstantiated sources, William is guilty of verbal and emotional abuse toward his wife. The accusation strengthened after the publication of Prince Harry's "Spare," which outlines a physical confrontation between the two brothers. However, Buckingham Palace had previously denied accusations appearing in the press that William and Kate had been guilty of bullying behavior toward Harry and Meghan, and nothing in these theories has been confirmed.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Now we get to the really out there stuff, which, despite being in the realms of utter fantasy, continues to circulate in the wildest fringes of conspiracy theory. According to a number of very dubious sources, the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with the rest of the royal family (who have been at the center of many such conspiracy theories over the years), are believed to be involved in Satanism. But that's not enough for some, who claim that the royals may not be human at all, but are instead reptilian creatures that are either supernatural or visitors from space, whose ultimate goal is to enslave humanity for their own ends.

The ridiculous reptilian conspiracy theory has been pushed in recent years by a number of theorists, most notably the British former footballer David Icke, who first forwarded his strange ideas in the early 1990s. Icke has claimed that the royals are hybrids descended from extraterrestrial reptilians, are capable of shape-shifting, and are part of a secret society, the Illuminati, and are in some way related to the serpent described in the Bible as having brought about the fall of Adam and Eve.

As well as Icke suggesting that public appearances have revealed the royals' reptilian heritage, more recent conspiracy theorists have claimed that the Cambridges' Satanism is on show in Catherine, Princess of Wales' sartorial choices. This was specifically aimed at the dress she wore during the unveiling of their son Prince Louis (pictured above), which some say is an intentional homage to the dress worn by the title character in the satanic horror film "Rosemary's Baby."