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It was a triumphant weekend for Kate Middleton, who attended the Wimbledon finals with her family and presented trophies to the tournament’s big winners, Iga Swiatek and Jannis Sinner.
The scene was a welcome sight after Kate pulled out of two events in recent weeks, sparking concerns about her health.
For Kensington Palace PR reps, hearing the crowd call out, “We love you, Kate!” was surely a pleasant change of pace from all the scandals and speculation that have characterized royal press coverage in recent years.
So the Princess of Wales and her team are probably less than thrilled with the fact that Monday marked a return to salacious headlines and wild rumors.
The sudden departure of Natasha Archer raises questions
Last week, after 15 years of faithful service, Kate’s assistant and “unofficial stylist” Natasha Archer abruptly vacated her position.
Initial press coverage indicated that Archer had left on amicable terms, with People magazine describing her as “an invaluable member of the private household” who “has made the decision to leave her palace role to set up her own private consultancy.”
The outlet added that “the Prince and Princess of Wales’ household has wished Natasha the very best for the exciting opportunities ahead.”
It all sounds plausible enough. But in the days after Archer stepped down, many royal watchers began questioning the official version of events.
Natasha’s Instagram account was private throughout her tenure with Kate, and when she made it public, her new followers made a shocking discovery:
According to GB News, Natasha followed several of Meghan’s “close friends” including her makeup artist Daniel Martin, Abigail Spencer, “the Duchess’s former close friend” Jessica Mulroney, her Pilates instructor Heather Dorak, and a former Archewell employee named Mandana Dayani.
On its own, the fact that Archer followed so many of Meghan’s close friends and business partners might not be such a big deal.
But after word got out that Natasha had taken such an interest in Meghan’s world, the former stylist reportedly began unfollowing those accounts, thus triggering even more speculation.
Is there reason to be suspicious?
By most accounts, Natasha was on her way to being named the primary stylist to the queen consort once William took the throne.
So the news that she’d decided to set out on her own after dedicating most of her adult life to Kate was greeted with a modicum of suspicion.
And reports that Natasha followed all of those Meghan-adjacent accounts raised even more red flags — but it’s highly unlikely that she was booted out of Kensington Palace for her social media activity.
Of course, we’ll probably never find out for sure what happened there, so you can expect the rumor mill to continue churning.
