The Kate hysteria just got serious

The unprecedented frenzy of speculation swirling around Catherine, the Princess of Wales took yet another turn this week after her medical records were reportedly breached.

The unprecedented frenzy of speculation swirling around Catherine, the Princess of Wales took yet another turn this week after her medical records were reportedly breached. To recap: The 42-year-old royal stepped away from public life temporarily in January following surgery for a non-cancerous abdominal condition. Despite Kensington Palace making it clear the princess was “unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,” her absence has generated extraordinary levels of amateur sleuthing on social media. Journalism industry terms like “handouts” and “kill notices” have entered the vernacular as gossip-lovers have dived head-first down the online royal rabbit hole. Even when Kate was spotted in public for the first time since her surgery, visiting a farm shop last weekend, the bizarre conspiracy theories about her health and whereabouts continued to circulate unabated – even though they were easily debunked. And now there are concerns that employees at the hospital where Kate received her treatment may have tried to obtain her private medical records. It was not immediately clear if the alleged data breach was successful, but several British media outlets citing the Daily Mirror tabloid reported on Thursday that up to three staff members were being investigated. The London Clinic has said that “all appropriate investigatory, regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken,” after the government data privacy watchdog confirmed it was investigating an alleged data breach. This alleged incident is not the first time Catherine’s medical privacy has been compromised. Previously, while she was pregnant with her first child in 2012, an Australian radio station prank-called the hospital the princess was in and tricked a nurse into revealing her private medical information, which was then broadcast.