March 22, 2024

TMZ posted a video online March 18 that it said showed Princess Kate and Prince William recently visiting a business near their home in Windsor, England. But the grainy footage didn’t quell conspiracy theories about Kate’s whereabouts.

A March 18 Facebook post shared what looked like a screengrab from the TMZ video, but the image showed a woman whose face isn’t Kate’s.

“Another stunt double,” text over the image read. “Kensington Palace continues to insult our intelligence.” The caption included the hashtags “#whereiskate,” “#bodydouble” and “#coverup.”

(Screenshot/Instagram)

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We reviewed the video shared by TMZ, along with still images from the footage that the site posted, and the original video does not show the image being shared on social media — the image is altered with another woman’s face.

The Sun reported onlookers said the Princess of Wales looked “happy, relaxed and healthy.”

“A witness at the farm shop in Windsor said: ‘After all the rumors that had been going around I was stunned to see them there,’” the tabloid said.

We rate claims that this image shows a Princess Kate body double False.

This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.

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Ciara O'Rourke is a contributing writer for PolitiFact. Previously, Ciara covered local government and public safety for the Austin American-Statesman and fact-checked elected officials and…
Ciara O'Rourke

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