OUR Royal Editor has revealed how he KNOWS the video of Princess Kate is real – and what she and Wills are like behind the scenes.
The Sun’s Matt Wilkinson answered Brits’ burning questions on a live blog today, after we exclusively published a video of the royal pair.
He talked at length about the clip of Kate and Wills at the farm shop in Windsor – as well as recalling some of his favourite behind-the-scenes moments with the pair.
Despite the video showing a beaming Kate seemingly recovering well while she walks alongside her husband, crazy conspiracy theorists are still running rampant.
The shopper who spotted Kate with his own eyes has even slammed “evil trolls” –Â saying they had to leave Kate alone.
Now, Royal Editor Matt hopes to finally put wild rumours to bed.
I have heard from an extremely reliable source that the video you released of Kate is in fact not her. Is this true? – Emily
The video we published is 100% Kate. Here at The Sun we have extremely reliable sources and verify our facts.
I’ve been a journalist for 22 years and been a royal reporter for four of them.
The video was verified before being published and there is no more reliable source than an eyewitness and a video which was confirmed.
Sadly, there is a lot of disinformation from people who really aren’t in the know but peddle confusion and doubt in an attempt to make themselves look clever. Don’t listen to them.
You’ve met the Royal family a lot. What’s your favourite memory of Kate and William? – Lisa
The best times are off-camera when you see the genuine interaction and closeness they share. They can both be very tactile and William is often more engaged and relaxed on jobs when his wife is by his side.
I remember one engagement where Kate was without William and it was set up so she walked alone down a path where photographers could get a clear shot.
Unfortunately a reporter (who I won’t name) had not moved away in time and Kate literally bumped into them. She gave a huge genuine and natural smile and fell about laughing.Â
Once I was at a job with William where he was speaking to elderly people in a care home. It was quite dry and was not going to make many front pages. But the residents were star struck and despite staff attempts to move William on he would not budge and stayed in his seat giving so much of his time that the job massively overran.
He didn’t need to do that. But he chose to ignore the attempts to make him leave and really made their day, week or even year. There are other times when us reporters get to travel on an official royal plane with the couple to cover their gruelling foreign tours and they come to the back of the plane and thank us for attending.
The conversations remain private but they show appreciation for the time we spend away from our families and hours of work that we have put in. That means a lot.
Why haven’t any staff at Windsor market come out and say publicly they served William and Kate? – Gerry
People in Windsor are very protective of Kate and William.
There are other people who saw them there but have simply chosen not to go on the record which we have to respect.
I have spoken to two people who saw the couple there who did not take photos.
What surgery did Kate have recently? – Judy
The Princess of Wales had abdominal surgery at London Clinic on January 16.
It was a planned operation and she was not taken in an ambulance or accident and emergency.
While the phrase abdominal surgery could cover numerous ailments this is the only description that the Princess wants to be made public.
Like anyone, she has a right to medical privacy and this is the only information she has agreed to be announced. She may wish to go further when she is good and ready but that is ultimately her choice.
Princess Kate and William seemed like a normal couple… they were happy and relaxed, says witness who saw shopping trip
A DAD-of-one has told how he saw Princess Kate on a shopping trip with William.
Nelson Silva, 40, who took a video of the “relaxed” couple, was shopping for steak at the Windsor farm shop when he spotted Kate and William in the bread aisle.
He told The Sun: “I noticed a couple choosing loaves of bread and the woman turned her face and I felt like I had seen the face before. It was familiar. I knew it from somewhere.
“Then William turned back and I thought ‘hold on I know this person’. I said to the staff ‘I think it’s them’ as I paid.
“I went to my car and as they came out of the shop I just filmed them. I think they walked out through a gate out of the grounds. They just vanished and I didn’t see a car.
“I just wanted to share with my family footage and show just how normal they were.”
He said the couple had obvious “chemistry” and “were super relaxed”.
“I didn’t feel like they were hiding who they were. But they didn’t quite know how people would react because there has been this build-up about their whereabouts and I got the sense they just wanted to be swift in there.
“Kate looked happy and relaxed. They look happy just to be able to go to a shop and mingle. Kate looked relieved like it was a success going to a shop. It felt natural.”
Did Nelson Silva ask permission of the royal couple before taking and then selling/releasing his video? – Stephanie
Nelson saw the couple shopping in the Farm Shop. He then videoed them from his car on a mobile phone so he could show his family.
When his family told him of the conspiracy theories he decided to share it with the world to prove the nonsense circulating online wasn’t true.
The Sun spoke to Kensington Palace to explain what we would be publishing before we ran the footage and photos.
Do you think the royal family have a duty to tell us the truth about Kate and the King’s health? – Andrew
The palace ARE telling us the truth about Kate and King’s health.
The issue is how much detail do we expect to be told. People should respect their individual choices about how much private information about their health they choose to make public. This is a difficult tight-rope to walk.Â
Everyone, whether a princess or a pauper, has the right to medical privacy.
I don’t think any Sun reader would want or expect their own personal media details splashed across papers or subject to gossip and speculation online.
Ultimately it’s up to them to reveal to the public their health secrets. When I exclusively revealed in October 2021 that the late Queen had spent a night in hospital it was with her express permission.Â
The King, meanwhile, has decided himself that he would announce he needed an operation for an enlarged prostate and then reveal his cancer diagnosis; without saying what time of cancer it is.
He wanted to make it public so that more men would get checked out. The Princess of Wales has chosen to say she has abdominal surgery and needs until April to recover. Both approaches should be respected.
Have Megan and Harry been in touch with Kate privately – and how did she react/would react if they did? – Ruth
I do not doubt that Harry and Meghan hope nothing more than Kate makes a full recovery.
Harry and Kate were extremely close for many years. If they have reached out privately then it is exactly that – private. There was a claim that the couple reached out to William, Kate and the King, in January.Â
But there has been virtually no contact between the two couples since Megxit more than four years ago. And the insults lobbed from California have cut deep and been hard to forgive.
I have asked the Sussexes if they would comment on the bullying that Kate has received online, as Meghan has spoken out about the treatment she received from trolls, but there has been no comment.
‘Lay off Kate’
THE Sun last week led the way in defending Princess Kate when she was being criticised from all angles over the edited photo saga.
Social media trolls were quick to attack the future Queen over her editing of a Mother’s Day family picture.
Media critics also weighed in with their opinions alongside the idiotic conspiracy theorists, but The Sun stood alone in saying: Lay off Kate.
Our front page blasted: “The furious attacks on the future Queen over her photoshopping of a Mother’s Day family picture are not just absurd.
“They now look like a bullying campaign against a devoted mum, recovering from a serious operation, who simply wanted to offer the public a perfect portrait of her and her kids.
“She meant well, made a mistake and fessed up. Fair enough.
“Now leave her alone to get over her op.”
Do you think the Royal family could have done anything different to avoid the speculation of the last few weeks? – Julie
Kensington Palace was quite clear in their first statement announcing the princess had an operation that she would be out of action until April and asked for privacy and people not to speculate.
That hasn’t changed. Unfortunately, the world has not been able to cope with not seeing Kate and trolls have filled the empty space with their own theories and lies.Â
The palace cannot and should not react to every little claim. They have simply asked for people to respect Kate’s privacy and wait until April. But the biggest mistake was the doctored Mother’s Day photograph, which Kate has apologised for.
Maybe they should have invited an official photographer in. But then some people would still find a way to start a new conspiracy. Sadly trolls are using Kate and William’s photo error as a stick to beat the family with – any excuse to further peddle myths!
After we saw him at church are we going to see Prince Andrew doing more royal events now because others are ill? – Cristina
There are two reasons why Prince Andrew will not return; neither the King nor the public will stand for it.
He will never again be working Royal but as a family member he can attend events, such as Christmas Day walk and the thanksgiving service at Windsor last month.
His brazen appearance at the thanksgiving service was a major PR blunder which was lost amid the drama of William pulling out for mysterious ‘personal matter’.Â
I was there when he walked down to the chapel at the head of the family smiling and looking like he was in charge. I turned to palace staff and said it looked dreadful and wrong.
They insisted that in fact Andrew wasn’t leading the family as they entered in reverse order. But the nuance was lost because of the photos and footage.
My worry is that no one is telling Andrew ‘no’. But there is no way back for him as a working royal. He’s toast.
What will the royal family do if the hospital records have been accessed? – Charlotte
They will be horrified by the reports that a worker at London Clinic accessed Kate’s medical records.
Because if proven it’s a disgusting breach and heaps fresh pain on the Princess of Wales at a time where she should be given space and time to recover at her own speed.
How would you feel if that happened to you? But the Royal Family are leaving this in the hands of the relevant authorities.
The allegation is currently with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and if it gets passed to the Police they will await the outcome of an investigation.
We’ve seen a lot more of the Queen since Kate and Charles have been ill. Do you think her title will now change going forward? – Sarah
The Queen will remain the Queen. But she has been standing in admirably for the King in recent weeks and will continue to do so while he recovers from cancer.
The late Queen Elizabeth II elevated Camilla from Princess Consort to Queen Consort in recognition of the support she has provided to her son.
I’ve seen them together in the last year on engagements and in France, Spain and Kenya and I don’t think Charles could be half as successful without his devoted wife.
Princess Kate video shows she’s recovering well & warms my heart, says The Sun’s royal photographer Arthur Edwards
IT’S lovely to see Catherine looking so happy.
People keep asking me, ‘Where’s Kate? How’s Kate?’
These pictures are the answer. She’s obviously recovering well from the quite serious operation she had in January.
The images of her smiling really warm my heart and I’m sure millions of others will be so pleased to see the Princess out and about.
There have been so many rumours circulated about her on social media – but they can now be put to rest.
It was lovely to see William at Kate’s side. I bet other visitors to the farm shop couldn’t believe their eyes when they walked in.
But I know the shop and it’s close to their home and sells wonderful produce.
Kate was really hammered by some for doctoring her Mother’s Day picture.
I really felt for her – she was just trying to produce a lovely picture of her family.
So it’s nice to see these wonderful images of her with a beaming smiling and clearly working her way back to full health.
Now I’m so looking forward to her getting back to life as a working Royal, when she’s fully ready. She’s been missed by millions.