Where is Kate Middleton? The royal mystery the world is trying to solve | 60 Minutes Australia

alarm bells in the palace could they be

ringing could be serious crown and out

it's a brutal blow for him the king

loves being King the Mony in crisis Kate

being conspicuously absent and with each

passing day the mystery surrounding her

condition is

deepening coming up on 60 Minutes why

are they not telling us is the palace

concealing the truth the effort to keep

the details secret is incredible about

the princess in Harding and our seek

King he's hopefully will be okay if he's

not no I don't want to say that because

you run with it Bain

share it's not what we commoners expect

to see the royal family in disarray they

seem incapable of escaping yet that's

the reality of the past few weeks with

King Charles largely out of action as he

receives treatment for cancer the firm

is floundering

how for example did a simple photograph

of a supposedly happy princess Katherine

and her children turn into a worldwide

photoshopping Scandal that PR Fiasco

must surely go down as one of the

palace's greatest stuff UPS so what's

really going on and is there a royal

competent enough to restore the shine to

the

crowny if there's one thing the British

Monarchy likes to get right it's detail

glorious

detail a prime example being the

coronation of King

Charles toes yours are together on that

one and then okay I just need to come

back a fraction this way towards me to

the BR and so can you get your um that

foot on that

one I love it I love it behind the

scenes from photos of the king and queen

to the preparation of royal ro hopes are

very good yes so

look Splendid excruciating exacting

planning left nothing to chance was it

that side left side

it your left cheek is

better for the palace certainty is

everything but right now there's

precious little of that to go around God

Save the King I William Prince of Wales

pledge my loyalty to you as your Le man

of life and limb so help me

[Applause]

God just 18 months in the reign of King

Charles is mired in

crisis what's Plan B I don't think

there's a there's a great deal of

long-term planning going on when there's

so much what if going on from the king's

Health Battle to the mystery surrounding

the princess of

Wilds the whole nation is now asking the

question where is okay disaster wait

there's a lot to unpack there there is

his slimmed down monarchy is coming

apart at the

[Music]

Saints why all the secrecy around Kate

there is no secrecy around her I know

there are all sorts of rumors floating

around and I mean some are just beyond

bizarre a combination of Palace missteps

family feuds and sheer exhaustion

conspiring to take the gloss off this

new Royal era the palace is really

struggling and so the future is very

uncertain and people some people are

assuming the worst and that you know

William may actually come to the throne

far quicker than anyone had

imagined it had all been going so well

until a routine prostate operation on

the king in late January how are you

feeling as the 75-year-old left Hospital

with qu Camilla there was no hint of the

bombshell to come surgeons had found

cancer even now 6 weeks on what type and

where remains shrouded in

secrecy well Christina it's hard to

imagine a London where King Charles

isn't out and about I have to say Adam

it would be really hard to imagine that

cuz he does like getting out and about

and meeting the public if anyone has an

inside into to how King Charles might be

coping it's Christina kiraku from 2009

to

2017 she was his Communications

secretary a key adviser at the heart of

the then Prince's inner sanctum the

king's got quite the battle ahead of him

I agree I think it's like any person

receiving a cancer diagnosis initially

there's shock and then you want to find

out everything so he does have a battle

ahead of him but no matter what he will

still be performing his duties there

will be no public engagements for quite

some time but if anything the king

appears to have been speeding up rather

than slowing down in recent weeks I have

been most deeply touched by your

wonderfully kind and thoughtful good

wishes for my health and in return can

only continue to serve you to the best

of my ability throughout the

Commonwealth recently we've seen a

whirlwind of meetings with politicians

and heads of state punctuated by weekly

visits to the hospital for treatment

it's wonderful to see you looking so

well it's all done by

mirors well we're all we're all behind

you the country is behind you the king

might have cancer but to Christina

kiraku he seems pretty unfazed about it

all you know he's keeping his humor and

that makes me feel optimistic this is a

man that no matter what he's done he's

done it to the nth degree

so the fight for his diagnosis I feel

like he'll be attacking it with as much

Zeal as everything

else King Charles's cancer was

discovered by chance here at the London

Clinic a surgeons carried out an

operation to treat an enlarged prostate

this is also where the Princess of Wales

spent nearly 2 weeks recovering from

abdominal surgery while Charles has been

out and about Kate has been

conspicuously absent from the public

gaze and with each passing day the

mystery surrounding her condition is

deepening the secrecy surrounding Kate

is is fascinating in fact I'm convinced

that the only reason we were told that

King Charles had this prostate problem

was to deflect attention from what's

going on with Kate because I suspect is

much more

[Music]

serious Tom Quinn is a well-connected

Royal author who delves deeply into the

secret workings of the monarchy he

thinks it's high time we were given some

clear Direction about the palace going

on usually with these things it's much

better to be open right because if you

don't say what's going on you just

invite people to speculate it's a it's a

natural human instinct we can't help

doing it where is Kate

Middleton where are you

Kate some people think she's dead some

people think she got a BBL from a

Brazilian buttlift on the Royal derri a

to a haircut gone wrong speculation has

been as ludicrous as it's been

exhaustive she's in a coma she's had a

face lift until now a long lens

Paparazzi shot has given us the only

clear view of her since Christmas other

than the now Infamous Photoshop fail of

Kate and the kids which unsurprisingly

fed a frenzy of susp it has been pulled

by five major news agencies because they

say it was manipulated but all it's done

is add to these conspiracy theorists

George this is all very

strange why wouldn't the Princess of

Wales come out and say I'm okay so we

see her I think Kate probably would have

done that but remember one of the big

things that Princess Diana hated about

being in the Raw family I think Harry

too is the fact that you're you're not a

free agent you can't move you can't

scratch your ear or brush your teeth

unless this vast machine that runs a raw

family gives you the okay you know and I

suspect she would have said she would

have been open about it but she's

probably been advised you look don't say

anything because it will just lead to

more speculation again the palace

probably getting that wrong because not

to saying leads to more speculation

telling us stops it for all the furor

Tom Queen says more than 3 months off

the job is plainly the result of just

one thing a very serious health

challenge I mean I suspect it

complications caused by hysterectomy or

a benign growth but you know you don't

take that much time off if you're not

very ill well the palace says we'll see

Kate back soon can we believe that um I

think from Easter she probably will

gradually come back into you know into

view more publicly but I suspect it will

be quite slow and the fact that they've

tried to swing the attention of the

press and the public to King Charles is

probably linked to the fact that she's

basically said I'm exhausted you seen

how thin she is she's so thin you know

it's not it's not

good as for King Charles Tom thinks that

he too is facing a more serious

prognosis then perhaps it

appears well I've spoken to someone who

knows the family well and she said look

I can't give you the exact details but

it is an aggressive cancer you know it's

not good it's treatable but it's it's

aggressive you know and everyone is

really worried because it's not

something that's going to be easy to

treat so this could be going on either

for quite a while or sadly not long at

all that's exactly the treatment is

going to be really really damaging for

child it'll be sick nausea um will

there'll be weight loss you know it's

going to it's going to be

dramatic all of which is taking a toll

on the air to the throne Prince William

he's been forced to whittle down his

public diary to focus on his wife and

father and stay home to look after the

kids while also according to Tom Queen

being at the center of rapidly

accelerated succession planning I've

been assured that already succession

planning is taking place and originally

until this diagnosis um the idea was

okay we've got at least five years till

you know King Charles is roughly 80

before we have to start thinking about

preparing William to take over the

over so at the moment you've got Prince

William trying to care for his father

who has cancer but then also being

trained to take the throne I think you

can see in recent film and pictures of

of William you can see the stress

because first your father may be Gravely

ill or become Gravely ill may even die

but then you've got yikes I'm going to

be I'm going to be king what does that

involve so you know he's going to have

to get up to speed in the next few years

already trimmed back to just 10 working

Royals and with two of the leading

lights out of action The Strain on those

who remain is showing as you'll see it

all begs the question is there anyone

spare who might be called on in the

family's time of need the fact that some

people might want Harry back is neither

here nor there some people have

appalling taste to no

judgment you don't hold back do you I'm

trying to avoid telling you what I think

I'm trying to be

[Laughter]

discreet it's not every day you get

invited to a castle but when you're

meeting up with British aristocracy a

certain quality of residence is to be

expected lady C hello greetings welcome

to Castle Goring thank you thank you do

come do come showing me around her

palatial home is Lady Colin Campbell

better known as lady C well this is

Queen Victoria's budo she's a colorful

socialite and bestselling Royal author

so this is the state dining room who

prides herself in very much keeping a

finger on the Blue Blood of the royal

pulse seats up to 26 comfortably who

have you hosted here in your

time can't mention their names but you

will know of some of

them with all that's been happening

around King Charles there's hardly been

a more productive time for dining table

discourse this is a king who waited

decades and decades to be king it's a

brutal blow for him

what would he be thinking right

now life is

unfair life can be cruel Anything Could

Happen yes of course anything could

happen he could die but if they've

caught something early and it's

treatable which it is he's hopefully

going to be all right

so everybody's

optimistic and we just wait wey there's

nothing we can do except weency is there

as for the Princess of Wales lady C

believes there's nothing secretive going

on just the appropriate respect for the

Privacy that would and should be shown

to any patient I mean why would she be

expected to give any more information

would you ask your mother or Aunt or

grandmother or sister to oh come on you

know share it with the neighbors and I

mean I'm afraid that's not how people

function and let's remember we are

dealing with

people why all the secrecy around Kate

there is no secrecy around her they have

said what was wrong with her and they

have said how long it's going to take

there is no secrecy around her I know

there are all sorts of rumors floating

around and I mean some are just beyond

bizarre but Catherine will certainly be

up and about in the not too distant

future are we sure about that I'm pretty

sure about how can we be sure about

that you may not be sure about it but

I'm sure about

it she's a very popular key Royal though

she leaves quite the whole in the royal

family when she's not seen by the public

she certainly does but then that's what

happens when you're the star of a

show the current Health crisis has

certainly revealed one thing Above All

Else the fragility of a working royal

family that has been reduced to the

beest of bonds I've been seeing for 25

years that the King was absolutely wrong

and that a slim down monarchy would be

an absolute disaster and I think that

they are at a Crossroads and it's crunch

time and they need to get their act

together and they need to rectify the

error of having slimmed down too

much well I don't hear alarm bells in

the palace Robert but could they be

ringing they are not ringing yet

business as usual as a phrase I keep

hearing that in the church chilian

phrase wartime adage kbo keep buggering

on amid all the conjecture about the

unfolding challenges Royal biographer

Robert Hardman is a voice of reassurance

he spent a year in the shadow of King

Charles as he chronicled his ascendancy

to the throne I think Easter is quite a

key kind of turning point for for the

monarchy I think that's when there'll be

kind of reset we'll sort of see where

where things go from here would to

borrow a sporting analogy who's in

reserves who's Team B who's stepping up

to the plate obviously the the big

burden falls on William as a of the

throne uh he's got his own issues

obviously cuz he's got his wife ill at

home he's looking after the kids I think

what we've seen a lot of is Queen Camila

and the Princess Royal um uh they they

really um steep forward they're doing a

lot of stuff you've still got the Duke

and Duchess of Edinburgh uh and you've

got the The Queen's cousins the Duke and

Duchess of Gloucester yeah if you if you

look back to 10 years ago 20 years ago

and you see this sort of extended family

you think well there's plenty of plenty

of people there to help out now it's

looking rather leaner but that's the way

it is the draw back of the B team is

that both star power and youth are

non-existent the Duke and Duchess of

Edinburgh Edward and Sophie are 60

Princess Anne 73 and the dukee and

Duchess of Gloucester are approaching

their 80s obviously there's another

member of the family who's completely uh

out of action Prince Andrew um there's

no way that he no matter how bad things

get I don't think there's any appetite

to bring him back into public life he's

out in in in in a sort of internal Exile

if you like one thing that King

Charles's diagnosis did achieve of

course is a visit from Prince Harry as

fleeting as it may have been if the

sussexes are hoping for some sort of

reconciliation lady C rates their

chances as a big fat

zero we love family just not our own we

love public service but please pay for

it I mean anybody who's duped by them

really deserves an idiot's Crown you

look around your Castle here there are

portraits of Monarch's past do you sit

here and look at the current royal

family and fear what's about to come

good

question I think the royal family needs

to make it more apparent to the

public the young public that they are

relevant and that they serve a purpose

it can be difficult to stay relevant if

you don't see

them I couldn't agree

more ultimately if it weren't for all

the dramas and

calamities author Tom Queen believes we

may have lost interest a long time ago

so Tom what do you reckon the average

person thinks about this Royal crisis he

love it it's a soap opera you know how

could they resist it all the fights now

it's brilliant for the average person

brilliant like so many crisis

before Tom reckons the palace will once

again muddle through but what might just

emerge is a royal family that looks and

works a little different to how it does

today so I think the future of the

monarchy will not just be slimed down

it'll certainly be that you know they're

just not going to work as hard William

wants to be a good father he wants to

spend time with his wife and children he

doesn't want to be this kind of machine

because really you know Elizabeth she

was Elizabeth II was like she was like a

machine everything she did was about

duty duty duty um almost to the point of

being obsessive compulsive Charles and

William they want a different kind of

Life which may be good for the monarchy

unless people begin to say Well they're

not doing very much maybe we should get

rid of them which is always

possible well cheers to the king's

Health yep cheers to the king's

Health hello I'm Adam heg thanks for

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