Kate Middleton’s Rare Sighting Shows She Continues to Put Her Children First During Recovery

Kate Middleton has seemingly done her best to shut down those pesky conspiracy theories that she’s not alright. Back in January, Kate underwent a planned abdominal surgery that Buckingham Palace said would have her out of the public eye until after Easter. But people kept coming up with bizarre theories as to why the family must be lying about Kate’s condition.

Now, the Princess of Wales has been spotted driving with her mother — and the mother-daughter trip actually shows that Kate has continued to put her kids first even during her recovery.

Kate Middleton was just spotted picking her kids up from school

The Princess of Wales has been in recovery mode for about six weeks. The palace released a statement in late January that said Kate was leaving the hospital and would spend the rest of her recovery at home. Of course, it sparked conspiracy theories when Kate went weeks without anyone seeing her; some claimed she’d gotten a bad haircut while others were worried there were problems in her marriage. Kate shut everything down when she was spotted driving with her mother to pick the kids up from school.

The outing saw Kate and Carole in the front seat of an Audi SUV; the paparazzi snapped pictures of Kate wearing sunglasses, presumably to conceal her identity (and she probably just didn’t feel like wearing makeup that day). The trip to get the kids shows that even though Kate isn’t feeling her best, she is making an effort to keep things as normal for her children as possible, which is what she had said she wanted to do from the beginning. Kate will be out of royal duties until at least Easter, though a concrete return date has not been set.

Kate Middleton has remained quiet about her medical diagnosis

The public hasn’t been thrilled with Kate’s elongated silence regarding her medical condition. Kate first mentioned the surgery in mid-January through a palace statement, but she never opened up about what she was going through. While some think the princess deserves privacy, others are less sure and think that Kate’s strange silence is concerning — and could mean that things are worse than they seem.

Any surgery that requires a two-month recovery time seems quite serious, but the palace has always kept quiet about royal family members’ personal lives. Things seem no different with Kate; the palace made clear in their initial statement that Kate would keep her medical history as private as possible. So, barring a press leak, it’s possible that nobody will ever know exactly what the princess went through. It’s also possible Kate will open up about the surgery long after she has recovered.