Will this end the royal speculation?

LONDON – Perhaps never before has a shopping trip been subjected to such scrutiny.

After more than a week of speculation and rumors about the whereabouts and health of Kate, Princess of Wales, a grainy video has emerged of her with her husband, Prince William.

This might have been the end of the story in a different era. But not so in the age of Internet-fueled conspiracy theories and declining trust in public institutions: in a time when everything is falsifiable, so everything, especially anything published by Britain's royal family in the past few weeks, remains open to questions.

the video, Published by the British newspaper The Sun, shows a man wearing a baseball cap and jacket, accompanied by a brown-haired woman wearing a hoodie and tight sweatpants. The newspaper said that the video was filmed at the Windsor Farm store, near the couple's home in west London, and published the story on its front page alongside the headline: “Great to see you again, Kate!”

The Daily Mail, Britain's most widely read newspaper, summed up the generally sympathetic tone adopted by the country's news media, calling it “the picture the world has been waiting to see.”

Gossip site TMZ, which also posted the video, said it had “scored the metadata” and had “no doubt” that this was a “legitimate video.”

NBC News asked Kensington Palace for any details it could share on the video, but did not respond. They knew someone in this very public place would likely find out about them, NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew told TODAY on Tuesday.

“This was a real member of the public who happened to see Kate and William in this farm shop,” McAndrew said. “But was it set up, where they knew full well that someone was going to take a photo of them? Yes, I think we can assume that's the case,” she added.

McAndrew said she believes there is a strong chance Kate will make an official return to the public eye on Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, the video wasn't enough to convince some of the rabid fans on social media who were enraptured by the saga, and whose engagement with the royal rumor mill reached fever pitch immediately after the video surfaced.

Whether the Palace or the rest of the public agrees, this continues to be a topic of intense conversation, with related search terms among trending topics on multiple platforms.

“This is not Kate…,” said TV producer Andy Cohen, who has 2.2 million followers on Channel X.

At the heart of all this is a woman who, according to the Palace, is recovering from major abdominal surgery and was always expected to remain out of action until at least the end of this month.

“Once we get answers about what happened with the Princess of Wales over the last few months, people will feel sincere guilt about their behaviour,” Kinsey Schofield, host of the royal radio show To Di For Daily, told Britain's Times Radio. Tuesday.

A poll by Sky News, the British partner of NBC News, indicated that more than half of the population Conspiracy theories have been witnessedBut that confidence in the royal family has not declined significantly.

Meanwhile, many sober royal experts say there have been a slew of decisions made by the palace that at best do not help the royal cause with the public, providing fodder for observers seeking to uncover some major plots.

Photo agency Getty, one of those that pulled Kate's family photo last week, added an editor's note on Tuesday to another royal photo taken by the princess, saying its photo of the late Queen Elizabeth II with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren from 2022 was “digitally enhanced at source.”