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Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

0:07

So if you're anything like us, Kate Gate

0:09

has you in a choke hold. It

0:12

all started with Princess Catherine Middleton's absence

0:14

after a planned abdominal surgery back in

0:16

January, which was then followed by a

0:18

poorly photoshopped Mother's Day pic, and that

0:20

was truly just the tip of the

0:22

iceberg. It really was. We're now hearing

0:25

tons of rumors having to do with

0:27

Kate stepping down from her royal duties,

0:29

speculation about her health, and theories about the

0:32

state of her marriage to Prince William. So

0:35

what exactly is happening behind the walls

0:37

of Windsor Castle and where in the

0:39

world is Catherine Middleton? You're about to hear

0:41

a full episode of our other podcast, Rich

0:43

and Daily, where every day we bring you

0:45

the latest pop culture news. We're going over

0:47

all the rumors and theories surrounding Kate Gate

0:49

and telling you exactly what we think about

0:51

it. Follow Rich and Daily wherever you get

0:53

your podcast so you don't miss an episode. Brooke,

1:03

it feels like we've hit day 1000

1:05

of Kate Gate, but it also feels

1:07

like each day we just get more

1:09

questions than answers. Honestly,

1:12

yeah. Like

1:16

I said, like when we were talking about stories

1:18

for today, like we're quickly getting into the territory

1:20

of like, how are we still talking about this?

1:23

Well, I had a vision of like December

1:25

being like the gifts that keep on giving.

1:28

Oh, Kate Gate kept the so warm

1:30

at the beginning of the year. Yeah,

1:32

definitely. Yeah. So ever

1:35

since Princess Catherine Middleton went MIA back

1:37

in December, people have

1:39

been passing around wild conspiracy theories

1:41

to explain her disappearance. And

1:43

now that she's been spotted again,

1:45

allegedly, the online chatter surrounding her

1:48

whereabouts has just ramped up some

1:50

more. Yeah. So even a new

1:52

video of her, if that is

1:54

her, has not put an end

1:56

to the speculation about what's really going on with

1:58

her. If anything, it's just me. It

2:01

has for sure. From Monduree, I'm

2:03

Arisha Skidmore-Williams. And I'm Brooke Sifford.

2:05

It's Wednesday, March 20th. And

2:07

you're listening to Rich and Daily. I'm

2:09

Brooke Sifford. I'm Arisha

2:14

Skidmore-Williams. And

2:19

I'm Brooke Sifford. And I'm Arisha

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Skidmore-Williams. I

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angi.com. So

3:57

Richie is like everyone else in the world. We

4:01

can't stop hearing, thinking, talking about

4:03

Kate Gate. The theory

4:05

surrounding Princess Catherine Middleton's health,

4:07

marriage, and whereabouts, they're just

4:10

not stopping. And I'm

4:12

proud to say I'm part of the problem. People

4:15

have like messaged me, they're like, look there's a video. And

4:17

I was like, yeah, whoever does hair and makeup should get

4:19

a raise. That lookalike is

4:21

spot on. The

4:24

CGI in that video is breathtaking. I

4:27

know. It's like awards anyone? This

4:30

is top notch work. So

4:32

there have been occasional Catherine sightings, but the

4:34

photos that we've seen, they're linking

4:37

us with more questions than answers. So

4:40

on Monday we talked about the reported sighting

4:42

of Catherine and Prince William at a

4:44

farm shop near Windsor Castle. Allegedly

4:47

they'd been spotted walking there after

4:49

watching their kids play sports. And

4:52

that is as specific as we will ever

4:54

get about what they were doing. So

4:58

at the time the sighting was just word

5:00

of mouth. Like nobody had pictures, nobody had

5:02

videos. And then

5:04

rumor has it the palace listened to that

5:07

episode of Virgin Daily and they were like,

5:09

oh God, we got to put out

5:11

the proof. Because later that

5:13

day. Yeah, they're like somebody get down

5:15

there with your T-Mobile sidekick and take

5:17

a video from very far away through

5:20

your windshield. Hurry. They were like, we

5:22

got to release this. Brooke and Arisha,

5:24

they're on to us. They're on it.

5:26

Because later that day, Monday, videos of

5:28

the outing came out. We all

5:31

got a peek and we all just

5:33

knew there's an understudy that

5:35

is absolutely killing their role. Yeah.

5:38

So TMZ shared the video on Monday.

5:40

It was taken on Saturday at the

5:42

Windsor farm shop about a mile from their home.

5:45

And in the video, Catherine and William are walking

5:47

side by side. They're each holding a bag and

5:50

Kate seems to be walking normally.

5:54

There's been a lot of talk about

5:56

this. Like after abdominal surgery, I don't

5:58

know that she'd be walking. this normal

6:00

carrying her own bags like. It's

6:03

been what, two months since this

6:05

alleged abdominal surgery? Yeah. And

6:08

she's very fit. It's, I won't

6:11

be like that's the reason why she's, this

6:13

has to be fake. Yeah. I'll

6:15

give that to her and she has top notch

6:18

health stuff, I assume. Well,

6:20

did you see the video of her doing a cartwheel and

6:22

William clapping? That's what I mean. She's

6:25

on that jumping beam. You

6:27

think anybody would- Jumping beam, balance

6:29

beam? No, jumping beam, obviously where you

6:31

jump off a beam onto the next

6:34

one. Yeah. Everyone in

6:36

gymnastics knows it. Uh-huh. For

6:38

some people, the video put an end to

6:41

the speculation about her whereabouts, but for others,

6:44

it only made them more suspicious.

6:46

It's just like, what? The king, the

6:48

king was like, see, that's it. I have no more suspicions

6:50

than everyone else was like, wait, what? Yeah.

6:53

So when TMZ posted the video,

6:55

they said it was 100% her,

6:57

as if they would know. They

7:00

did check the metadata. They said it was

7:02

definitely taken that day. That

7:05

doesn't mean shit. Yeah, I've changed the date.

7:08

A million things. And I'm not even a

7:10

professional hacker. All right. So

7:12

not everyone's convinced. Some people online said

7:14

they didn't think the woman in the

7:16

video looked anything like Catherine. They think

7:18

her face looks thinner than usual and

7:20

they think that she looks taller in

7:22

the video. I saw one photo that

7:24

had a line drawn from William to

7:27

Kate and where her eye line was

7:29

in comparison to him. I can't

7:31

with these people. That's absurd. Well, it

7:33

seems to me that's weird. I

7:35

know we're all focusing on her, but

7:37

William, that's a very, I'm

7:39

not sure that's William. He's wearing a hat. Do

7:42

you think he can't wear a hat? So we can't

7:45

see that hairline. He should wear

7:47

a hat more if we're being honest. He

7:49

probably went away for surgery too. Hair plugs,

7:51

finally. And he's like, after seeing everything that's

7:53

happening with Kate, I can't

7:55

take this risk. No one tell anyone. Yeah,

7:57

seriously. Even Andy Cohen weighed

7:59

in. So on X he

8:01

wrote, that ain't Kate. Put

8:03

that one right to bed. I

8:05

can't wait for the reunion about this. It's just

8:08

Catherine and William and her body double. And

8:11

his, apparently, head double. Speaking of

8:13

body doubles, one of the major conspiracy

8:16

theories is that the woman in the

8:18

video is Heidi Agan, who is a

8:20

professional Kate lookalike. I'm sorry, she looks

8:22

so much like Kate. Like,

8:26

the one side by side of them, I'm like, I don't know which

8:28

one is Kate and which one is

8:30

Heidi. Like, I really don't. But

8:33

yesterday, Heidi denied

8:35

the theory to the mirror. She said,

8:37

people think it's me, but I

8:39

know it is not. Heidi says that she was

8:41

working when the video was shot as a Catherine

8:43

body double at the farm shop. I was

8:46

gonna say, I was just gonna be like, yeah,

8:48

she was busy doing the other engagements pretending to

8:50

be Kate. Yeah. There's no way that

8:52

this one was her. She's like, I was working. We were like, we

8:54

know that's what we're saying. You were working.

8:57

But she added, I 100% believe

9:00

that is Kate Middleton and William in the

9:02

video. But like, she wouldn't. Let's

9:04

say. Well, and if you look at her bank account,

9:07

there was a mysterious edition of 100,000 pounds

9:10

from the palace by Charles

9:12

himself. Yeah, exactly. That's delicious. And

9:14

those are facts. I mean,

9:16

even if that was her, she's not gonna be like,

9:19

yeah, it was me. Can you imagine? Sorry.

9:22

Yeah, that was me holding hands

9:24

with someone else's husband. Yeah. So

9:28

another theory, which we've also

9:30

talked about, about why Catherine's been MIA has

9:32

to do with trouble in her marriage. Now,

9:34

there's been speculation for years that Prince William

9:36

has been having an affair with their friend,

9:39

Rose Hanbury, who's also known

9:41

as the Martianess of Chumlee. Yep. So

9:43

we all know. And some people, Rose,

9:47

Martianess, you know, goes back and

9:49

forth. I love having two names.

9:51

Yeah. But some people believe this might

9:53

be the real reason that Catherine's been laying low. And

9:56

now because of this rumor and

9:58

the traction that it's getting. Rose,

10:00

who is also married, is

10:03

speaking out through her legal team. Yeah,

10:05

so in a statement to Business

10:07

Insider, Rose's lawyers call the infidelity

10:09

rumors completely false. And

10:12

Nick Bolin, who is a self-professed

10:14

royals expert and editor-in-chief of True

10:16

Royalty TV told Us Weekly that

10:18

he knows Rose very well and

10:20

that she's absolutely not having an

10:22

affair with Prince William. So

10:24

Nick said, when those rumors broke a

10:26

few years ago, Rose was very upset

10:28

by them then and she's still very

10:30

upset by them now. Nothing like a

10:32

self-professed expert to put the rumors to

10:34

bed. Yeah. So

10:37

now we can get a little intrigued

10:39

and a possible crime added to

10:41

the mix. Finally.

10:44

I know, this wasn't dramatic enough. This

10:46

wasn't a better crime, yeah. There might

10:48

have been a major security breach. The

10:50

Mirror reported yesterday that at least one

10:53

whole staff member at the London Clinic,

10:55

where Catherine was treated for this supposed

10:58

abdominal surgery, attempted

11:00

to illegally access her medical

11:02

records. Now unsurprisingly to no

11:04

one, the details are sketchy. We don't know who this

11:06

staff member is or if they actually did get the

11:08

records. What we do know is that

11:11

a source told the Mirror that

11:13

senior hospital bosses tipped off

11:15

the palace about the security breach

11:17

and said that an investigation would

11:19

follow. And the

11:21

staff was like, snitches get stitches. Like what

11:23

are you doing? And they're like, thank God

11:26

we're a clinic. We've got nothing but stitches

11:28

here. All I can picture is the cast

11:30

of pretty little liars dressing up

11:32

and breaking into this hospital to try

11:35

and get records about gates. In like

11:37

nursing uniforms? Yes. Yeah.

11:40

I don't know why. I think that says a lot about me, but. It does say

11:42

a lot about you. So the

11:44

source acknowledged that this is a huge

11:46

security breach and said the whole medical

11:48

staff has been left utterly shocked and

11:50

distraught over the allegations and were very

11:53

hurt that a trusted colleague could have

11:55

allegedly been responsible for such a breach

11:57

of trust and ethics. The

11:59

clinic's CEO Al Russell also weighed

12:01

in on the controversy in a statement

12:03

to People, and he said, "...everyone at

12:05

the London Clinic is acutely aware of

12:07

our individual, professional, ethical, and legal duties

12:10

with regards to patient confidentiality. There is

12:12

no place at our hospital for those

12:14

who intentionally breach the trust of any

12:16

of our patients or colleagues." And then

12:18

he took a really deep breath because

12:20

he said all of that. I do

12:22

wonder, I mean, there's

12:24

gotta be a version of HIPAA over

12:26

there, but I don't know what it

12:28

is. I would assume they

12:30

have it. Like, there's gotta be... HIPAA Middleton. Yep,

12:33

HIPAA Middleton. That's

12:36

what I mean. Aimed for her sister. Yep, exactly. Yeah,

12:39

I don't know about that. That's true. It

12:42

just, it feel, I mean, yeah. Because back in the

12:44

day, you could shout

12:46

from the rooftops, be like, yeah, Brad Pitt's in here

12:48

for a personality transplant, and there would

12:50

be no repercussions. But now it's like,

12:53

you can't say anything. Yeah. So

12:57

every day, Brooke, we're getting something

12:59

new coming out about Kate Gate. What's

13:02

happening? I'm starting to like, I was

13:04

so on board with these conspiracy theories, and now

13:06

I'm just like, okay, fine. Nothing's going

13:08

on. It's hard. I... She

13:11

was watching sports. Yeah. She did get

13:13

some cheese samples, and she went home to

13:15

her husband and three kids, and that's it.

13:18

Everyone knows, Arisha, you can't eat dairy

13:20

for four months after

13:23

abdominal surgery. Yeah, that's why... I notoriously

13:25

refuse to get it. The

13:27

doctors are like, your intestines are literally falling out. I was like,

13:29

if I can't bring them out, they'll stay out.

13:32

They're like, that's actually why they're hanging in the first

13:34

place. I

13:36

don't know. Like, I'm with you,

13:38

but I refuse to give up like

13:40

you. Of course not, yeah. Like, I didn't say I

13:43

gave up. You're giving up on the conspiracy

13:45

theories, and I can't be talking to a

13:47

quitter. I just refuse. Fine,

13:49

I'll keep going. But to what

13:51

extent? Until Kate goes

13:53

live on Instagram holding that day's newspaper

13:55

and says, guys, I'm fine, I'm sorry,

13:57

I was hiding, those people were fake.

14:00

This is me now, just like

14:02

JLo's album. You know if she did

14:05

that, the conspiracy theories would... There'd be people looking at

14:07

her like, look at the shadows, you can see

14:09

the gun. You can see Prince William

14:11

behind her, moving her mouth and hands

14:13

like a puppet. Like, nobody would believe it. That'd

14:15

be even a war with... So what do you

14:17

think it'll take for people to actually believe that

14:20

she's fine? Nothing.

14:23

This is gonna follow her for the rest of her life. And

14:26

the thing is, because we're still waiting on the

14:28

big thing to drop from the royal family. Right,

14:30

the BBC announcement, where's that? I

14:32

read something that was saying how the

14:35

king is getting ready to abdicate. Yeah,

14:37

I've seen that too. And that William's gonna take

14:39

over. They're saying that that's like the new theory

14:41

and that this is all just to like get

14:43

everyone's ducks in a row. They're

14:46

like, when you're queen, you're gonna want that abdomen to

14:48

be tip top. And we gotta get you in there.

14:50

You know how often we have Camilla making those calendars?

14:54

Royal's at the beach. You and car washes outside of

14:56

the palace. Yeah, I mean, that's

14:59

a moneymaker. I don't even need the tax dollars

15:01

anymore. They just use proceeds from these calendars. I

15:03

will say when I first saw it, I was

15:05

like, oh, that really... I'm

15:07

one of the people that's like, I don't know that that 100% looks

15:10

like her. But after surgery, you

15:12

can lose weight from surgery. Her face could

15:14

be thinner from that. Yeah, she

15:16

already is a pretty small person. Yeah,

15:18

but the walking and like being in

15:20

perfect health, just walking around a farm

15:22

shop. Okay, but the number of times... After

15:25

a day of yelling at sports and cheering.

15:28

Do you remember the game night when I was so sick? Yes,

15:30

yes. And I muddled through. If I hadn't

15:32

told everybody every second that I was sick,

15:35

you guys would have never known. Some

15:37

of us are really good at hiding our illnesses, like

15:40

lions. Yeah, but your legs also notoriously

15:42

aren't made for standing or walking. So

15:44

how would you explain that? Well, I

15:46

would have played it much better. I would have

15:48

gone out in a wheelchair. And then I would have set up

15:50

and was like, I'm fine, everyone, I'm fine. And then I would

15:52

have gotten the applause. It would have been great. Yeah,

15:54

it is sus. This video came out right after we were all

15:56

like, there's no proof. That's what I'm saying.

15:59

But... I mean whatever, whatever.

16:02

Well, I'm sure we'll talk about this tomorrow. So, hold

16:04

on, Richie. From

16:07

Wondery, I'm Aritia Skidwear Williams. And I'm

16:09

Brooke Siffrin. This is Rich and Daily.

16:11

See you tomorrow, Richie. Tell

16:30

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16:40

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16:42

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16:45

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Play.