Why did a royal reporter say that Princess Kate had ‘pre-cancerous cells’?

A lot of people have been posting a British talk show clip over the past week. In the clip, reporter Rhiannon Mills (Sky News’ royal reporter) is speaking about the Princess of Wales, and instead of Mills reciting the palace’s lines about Kate’s cancer, Mills said that doctors found “pre-cancerous cells.” This clip has been cited repeatedly on social media, as people have been expressing skepticism about what we’ve been told about Kate’s health for months now. Looking back on everything around Kate in the past two years, I’ve become a Kate-Really-Was-In-Poor-Health-Originally Truther. As in, the start of all of this was legitimate, and she needed some kind of abdominal surgery to take care of something (which has never been disclosed). But so much of what has happened this year and so much of what we have been told absolutely *feels* like some kind of cover story or PR move. I don’t know the truth, but I understand why so many people feel like we’re being lied to. As for the “pre-cancerous cells” situation, the Daily Beast’s Royalist is one of the few outlets to touch the controversy:

Conspiracy theories surrounding Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis and recovery have erupted online again, after a report by a respected and accredited royal reporter suggested the Princess of Wales never had cancer but was instead found to have “pre-cancerous cells.” Vicious rumors perpetrated by online trolls alleging that Kate either faked or exaggerated her cancer to cover up personal difficulties have been turbocharged by the claim.

When Kate announced she had cancer in March 2024, she said tests after abdominal surgery “found cancer” and that she was advised to “undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy.” However, a doctor told The Daily Beast, “You either have pre-cancerous cells or you have cancer, the two terms are not interchangeable.”

The renewed attention on Kate’s condition was triggered after a September report by Rhiannon Mills, senior royal editor for Sky News, resurfaced this weekend. When covering the Princess of Wales’ joyful video announcement that she was “cancer-free,” Mills wrote: “In March the princess confirmed that pre-cancerous cells had been found following abdominal surgery and that she would have to undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy.”

The specific formulation of the words went largely unnoticed at the time amid relief at Kate’s announcement that she was “cancer-free” and widespread astonishment at the deeply personal nature of the film, which showed Kate and Prince William and their family engaged in a series of wholesome and well-lit pursuits.

Mills’ remarks cannot be easily dismissed, however, as she is a member of the so-called royal rota, a quasi-official group of royal journalists working for British media who, while maintaining their editorial independence and frequently writing critical stories about the royals, cooperate with the palace, especially on logistics, in a broad sense. The palace is often able to get simple errors made by rota journalists corrected, and the fact a correction hasn’t been made is relevant. Mills is a hugely experienced journalist.

[From The Daily Beast]

Not only is Mills well-respected within the British media, Mills was one of the reporters who traveled to South Africa last week with Prince William. Mills secured an exclusive interview with William (the “hardest year of my life” interview). From a media-management perspective, if Kensington Palace was pissed about Mills accidentally (or on purpose) revealing something about Kate’s health, they would have kicked her off the traveling rota for this trip. And William certainly wouldn’t have given her an interview. There’s another possibility too, connected to William’s interview – perhaps William’s interview was part of a quid pro quo to keep Mills from spilling more? A completely different possibility: maybe Mills was just talking out of her ass and she actually forgot what the palace’s line was, and she never thought people would call attention to it.

I’m not sure where that has come from. I may have missed it but I don’t recall the Princess or anyone at Kensington Palace using the phrase pre-cancerous cells. https://t.co/8VJ6J4OGtj

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) November 7, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.