Real talk: I think a lot of people would have accepted the Princess of Wales’s recovery timeline as “post-Easter” if Kensington Palace provided clear and regular briefings as to her condition. That’s all it would take. The weirdness around Kate’s “planned abdominal surgery” has been compounded by KP’s severely inadequate communications strategy. They’ve never said Kate expects to make a full recovery; they’ve never said if Kate returned to Adelaide from Norfolk; they won’t even make a simple statement of gratitude for “the outpouring of support” in the weeks after Kate was allegedly released from the London Clinic. The fact that Kate has been missing for 60-plus days AND the palace refuses to talk about her recovery is what has caused the rumor mill to churn and churn. That and William’s behavior just seems… off. Anyway, KP has been getting a lot of calls this week and those reporters have been begging them to say something, anything, to push back on all of the rumors. Instead, what they got was this terse reply:

Kate Middleton’s team is speaking out in light of the conspiracy theories swirling about the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts following her abdominal surgery in January.

“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” her rep tells Page Six exclusively. “That guidance stands.”

The flak reiterates that Middleton, 42, is “doing well.”

While Middleton continues to recover, Prince William has resumed his public duties but sparked concern once again when he bailed on a royal engagement Tuesday for undisclosed “personal reasons.” The palace, however, reiterated at the time that the princess was “doing well.”

At the time of her surgery, Kensington Palace confirmed that the mom of three would remain hospitalized for up to two weeks and wouldn’t resume public duties until around Easter. But a source told us that Middleton’s closest advisers didn’t even know she had planned to go under the knife.

[From Page Six]

“Her rep” like she’s an actress with a CAA agent. They spoke to the KP comms person who is probably weeping in a closet somewhere. All along, I have wondered how much of this is just stubbornness on William and Kate’s part, combined with their incompetence and the incompetence of their staff. “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates.” Reporters are truly begging for proof of life and you’ve got Muffy Von Snooty the posh comms intern say no, we’re still going radio silent over here, thankyouverymuch.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.