Candid Kate & Will Photo Has Everyone Thinking Their Marriage Is Over (We're Calling BS)
A candid snap of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, at the Royal Variety Performance at Royal Albert Hall on November 19 caused marriage trouble rumors to flare up yet again. The Princess of Wales looked stunning in a velvet emerald green dress with a V-cut neckline and short sleeves, which clung tightly to her figure. William, meanwhile, looked dapper in a black tux alongside his wife as they walked the red carpet. One photo from the event that was captured as the royal couple arrived had everyone buzzing.
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Before exiting their car, the pair was photographed with the door closed, and Kate had what appeared to be a look of dread or extreme exasperation on her face. The unflattering pic went viral, and many took it as evidence that the royal couple's marriage is on the ropes. "Most of us agree that these 2 are done & done ... Kitty is given the look of a woman scorned," one X user wrote. "They're heading for divorce!" another added, which was a common refrain. "This is not love these people leave separate lives," a person tweeted. Several echoed the sentiment that the couple is simply living a marriage of convenience.
What the pessimists neglected to mention was how Kate and Willy interacted the rest of the night. The viral photo was perfect fodder for the trouble in paradise narrative, but it seemed to just be a case of catching the princess at a bad angle as she looked in the distance. Besides flashing a brilliant smile on the red carpet next to her husband, there was also a pic of William placing his hand on the small of Kate's back as they entered the venue. A small, but telling gesture of their intimacy. Little mishaps between the couple have been misconstrued before.
This isn't the first time rocky marriage rumors spread about the couple this year
The previous month, rumors of marriage strife spread when Prince William made a rude joke to Kate Middleton. They visited the Long Meadow Cider as part of their trip through Ireland in October, and after picking apples in the orchard, the royal couple donned aprons to make some dough for apple bread. Press and plenty of cameras were on hand as the two tackled their respective baking tasks. William was in prime form as he was consistently cracking jokes while semi-struggling to shape his dough. The Princess of Wales, meanwhile, went slow and steady as she formed hers. When William's pastry was nearing completion, he joked to his wife, "Do keep up." As clips of the exchange were posted to X, several detractors took this as evidence that the Prince of Wales delights in mistreating his wife. "Her smile immediately dropped when he said that," a viewer noted. Similar to the unfavorable photo taken outside the Royal Variety Performance, it was a semi-awkward moment that many online users chose to run with. Others, however, noted that the pair seemed to be having a blast as William hammed it up.
Another mistimed photo-op moment sparked divorce chatter for Kate and William earlier in the year when they uploaded a picture for Valentine's Day to their official social media accounts. The snap showed the pair outdoors in the woods as Will planted a kiss on Kate's cheek. Several X users lambasted the clearly staged picture. "William looks like he's never kissed Kate on her cheek a day in his life," one commented. While others took exception to the impersonal post that was likely uploaded by their team and not the royals themselves.