The Prince and Princess of Wales will take a four-week break away from Windsor with their children following intense speculation around the Princess of Wales's health and whereabouts.
Kate, 42, revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy in an emotional video message on Friday. The announcement came after weeks of mounting pressure and conspiracy theories on social media.
Paddy Harverson, who was previously the official spokesman of Kate and the Prince of Wales, was asked on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme where the responsibility for the pressure lay: social media or mainstream media. "Well, it feeds off itself," he said. "It's a sort of permanent doom loop.
And it's the worst I've ever seen." However, he said the royal family still would have done the announcement in the same way, even without the pressure. "I'm absolutely convinced that if we hadn't had all the madness and social media, if we hadn't had the Mother's Day photo mistake, they would have still done it like this," he said of Kate's video statement on Friday. "They would have still waited till this last Friday when the schools are breaking up to make the announcement." READ MORE: Kate Middleton 'extremely moved' in new statement after cancer announcement Rumours online about the princess intensified after William missed, at very short notice, the memorial service of his godfather the late King Constantine of Greece on February 27.
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