Speculation around Kate’s wellbeing ‘worst I’ve seen’, says former royal adviser

The speculation and pressure around the Princess of Wales’s health and whereabouts before her video statement was “the worst I’ve ever seen”, a former royal adviser has said.

Kate, 42, revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy in an emotional video message on Friday.

The announcement came after weeks of intense speculation and conspiracy theories on social media.

Paddy Harverson, who was previously the official spokesman of Kate and the Prince of Wales, was asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme where the responsibility for the pressure lay: social media or mainstream media.

“Well, it feeds off itself,” he said.

“It’s a sort of permanent doom loop. And it’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”

However, he said the royal family still would have done the announcement in the same way, even without the pressure.

“I’m absolutely convinced that if we hadn’t had all the madness and social media, if we hadn’t had the Mother’s Day photo mistake, they would have still done it like this,” he said of Kate’s video statement on Friday.

“They would have still waited till this last Friday when the schools are breaking up to make the announcement.”

Mr Harverson denied the institution was “fragile” now the King and the Princess of Wales are receiving cancer treatment.

“We just have to come to terms with the new reality, there’s fewer of them,” he said.

“So, everyone just needs to sort of understand that they will still be busy, they will get over this. I am highly confident that the King, who I know well, is incredibly strong, very resilient, a great spiritual person, so I know he’ll get through it.