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Suggestions by British media outlets that propaganda machines in China, Russia and Iran were peddling online rumours, speculation and conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton to “destabilise” British society have been met with disbelief and mockery on social media.
Commenters have also questioned whether recent issues surrounding Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and her well-being were a distraction from other problems facing Britons today.
“We are just onlookers, and now we can harm Britain’s national security?” a user reacted on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu.
“I don’t recognise her,” another user on Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili said about Kate Middleton, adding: “I asked my boyfriend, he doesn’t either. I asked my friends on WeChat, and they don’t get it.”
A further user on Xiaohongshu said: “Of course, you can blame China for everything”.
On Monday, several British news media outlets cited sources in the British government to report that “hostile states” were fuelling misinformation about the princess.
“Part of the modus operandi of hostile states is to destabilise things – whether that is undermining the legitimacy of our elections or other institutions,” an unnamed source told The Telegraph.
Charlie Sansom, a British TV and radio commentator reacted on X, formerly Twitter: “This is pathetic. The British public asked reasonable questions. It’s got nothing to do with Chinese or Russian bot accounts. How desperate”.
Zichen Wang of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a think tank in Beijing, said he could not imagine Beijing having “an interest in the private affairs of the Princess of Wales. Unless, I am shown some evidence”.
After weeks of absence from the public eye, Kate last week announced in a video message she had been diagnosed with cancer. She did not share the form of cancer but said she was receiving preventive chemotherapy after abdominal surgery.
The message followed weeks of speculation about her well-being after Kensington Palace circulated an image of Kate with her children on Mother’s Day. However, multiple news agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, found the image had been “manipulated”. Her official account on X later apologised for the Photoshopped image.
The scandal led to the circulation of a slew of conspiracy theories, ranging from a troubled married life with Prince William to being in hiding or killed or replaced by a doppelgänger.
Even after her video, rumours have continued about the truthfulness of the cancer announcement. But netizens blamed the British media and the royal family itself for the speculation.
After a reporter was heard in a British breakfast show clip saying China, Russia and Iran could be behind some of the most “cruel” and “inhumane” comments about Kate, a user on X commented. “Oh for god’s sake! How is he able to say this stuff without bursting out laughing”.
Another reacted: “Destabilise society”, in #BrokenBritain? With what? Kate’s cancer?”
The user added that the public had moved on to “grapple with their lingering problems: the cost of living, the housing crisis and skyrocketing rents, the filth on the streets, the man-made dysfunctionality of NHS, and everything other than Kate, you could take it to the bank! It’s a media hype in which Kate is the nation’s most significant problem. Reality is different”.
Another commented: “Sure, let’s blame #China/#Russia/#Iran for the #BBC’s sloppy reporting! Anything to deflect from their own mistakes. We’re meant to trust state media but can’t even question an obvious fake clip? Give me a break. Meanwhile the #monarchy lives tax-free as we struggle”. – South China Morning Post
