21 March, 2024

Sean Coughlan Royal Correspondent Welcome to Royal Watch. Recently, it's felt like covering royal news is a mix of tracking health updates and tackling mad rumours, and that still seems to be the prevailing weather. It’s certainly what you’re mentioning in your emails. ‌ After weeks of speculation, this week we saw the Prince and Princess of Wales out together for the first time this year. The prince was also back on the road with his homelessness project. ‌ And what should we expect from Meghan’s new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard?

Royal rumour machine goes crazy If you’ve looked at social media in the past week, you will probably have seen a bewildering range of conspiracy theories and bizarre rumours about the Prince and Princess of Wales. The BBC was dragged into this with a hoax claim that we were on high alert for a big secret announcement. None of this was true. That didn’t stop almost everyone asking. Like the Japanese knotweed of the digital world, the more these conspiracy theories were chopped down, the more they seemed to come back. Marianna Spring, the BBC’s disinformation and social media correspondent, found the royal rumour-machine had gone global, with the spreaders of these stories “accumulating millions of views and racking up new followers”. But we did get to see both Prince William and Catherine in a way that might stop some of the more outlandish claims. ‌ For the first time this year there was video of Catherine, seen with her husband at a farm shop near their home in Windsor, in images published by the Sun newspaper. Although Marianna then found many people sharing claims that it was a body-double of the princess. Nothing is going to convince some people, but the video showed Catherine back on her feet - looking relaxed and smiling. It was the clearest sign so far that she’s recovering from her operation in January. But the clouds of uncertainty seem impossible to clear for the royals.

Newspaper front pages point to Kate's photo controversy. Credit: Getty ‌ This week, we also heard there was an investigation into whether staff at the private hospital where the princess had surgery tried to access her medical records. That would raise fresh privacy concerns about a medical condition which has not been revealed publicly. The next milestone on the road to recovery will be whether we see Catherine at church with the Royal Family on Easter Sunday.

Why are people so obsessed with Kate rumours? How Kate body-double theory spread online Kate hospital privacy breach inquiry

William speaks up for the homeless  Prince William was in Sheffield, home of the World Snooker Championships. The prince must sometimes feel rather snookered on such occasions, with his visit overshadowed by the emergence of that Kate video. He was there to promote his Homewards project, a five-year scheme to reduce homelessness, with a focus on six locations around the UK.

Princess Diana with Harry and William at The Passage homelessness charity in 1993. Credit: The Passage ‌ This is one of the prince’s flagship initiatives. It’s a cause that’s been part of his life since his mother took him on visits to homelessness charities as a child. It’s also not an easy goal, with housing charity Shelter warning that homelessness is getting worse rather than better.

Prince William attends a Homewards Local Coalition meeting at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield. Credit: Getty ‌ Anti-monarchist critics say the prince’s scheme is just an impractical PR gesture, and that the issues require political solutions. But the counter argument is that it’s better to try to make a difference and help, rather than do nothing.

Prince William poses for a selfie with a member of the public. Credit: Getty ‌ On the prince’s trip to Sheffield, there was an announcement of £1m in support from DIY chain Homebase for people moving into new accommodation. William backs Sheffield homeless projects   Can a prince really tackle homelessness?

Meghan’s view of the Riviera  It’s not just TV dramas that come with social media teasers. American Riviera Orchard, a new venture from Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been trailed online with a few tantalising seconds of images. It’s accompanied by the 1960s silky jazz tones of Nancy Wilson. We still don’t know exactly what it’s going to sell, but the introduction anchored it firmly in their US base of Montecito.

Meghan's return to Instagram received widespread attention. Credit: Getty ‌ The name doesn’t give much away. It could be anything. Pending US trademark applications suggest the brand could sell cookbooks, home goods and even food. Prof Pauline Maclaran, a marketing and consumer research professor at Royal Holloway, suggested a “domestic goddess in the kitchen” feel to the social media trail. But before even launching, it’s clocked up over half a million followers on Instagram.

Prince Harry is one of a handful of other alleged victims of tabloid press intrusion who have so far refused to settle. Credit: Getty ‌ Meanwhile in London, Prince Harry’s lawyers have been back in action in another hearing over claims of unlawful information gathering by a newspaper group, in the next stage of a case against News Group Newspapers. Harry, alongside others, is suing over accusations of unlawful invasions of privacy by the Sun and the News of the World (which stopped publishing in 2011).