The insistence that we see Kate is tantamount to stalking, writes Shelagh Fogarty

11 March 2024, 15:12 | Updated: 11 March 2024, 15:21

Do I think the royals should be as honest as possible in their dealings with us? Yes. Does that mean a total removal of their privacy? No.

The work that they do is one thing, but they also do a huge amount of self-curating, curating their image.

The Queen did it, the king before her and the king before him and on it goes that's not new.

The relationship I've always thought, is a little bit unhealthy - not all of it by any means - but it's where people draw lines.

Even before the photo, this insistence that we see Kate, that she owes us her presence, I think is tantamount to stalking.

I think the way the Queen was forced to bring Harry and William down to London within days of their mother dying unexpectedly when they were 12 and 15 was the nation bullying those boys.

Loads of the stuff that's been said about Kate, and where she is...seriously?

She's had an operation, she's having a big chunk of time off to recover, you have seen her almost everyday for the past 20 years one way or another.

You do know that when we see their wedding on television, we're not really invited to it, don't you? We're engaging with it but it doesn't mean that they as human beings have to answer our every call.

If she was that interested in faking the photo, she'd have changed Louis' hands. But she didn't and as a result, people are all over Twitter saying 'that's a Satanic sign, that's a Freemason sign'. I think you're all bonkers, the people doing that.

Do I think they should be as honest as possible in their dealings with us? Yes. Does that mean a total removal of their privacy? No. Does it mean that she can't ever tinker with a photograph? I don't think so, I think she can. It's about the degree to which she does.

If you think you haven't seen doctored photos of royals before, I suggest you remove a thousand scales from your eyes.

Because you have.