America’s obsession with Kate-gate

00:00 05:15

Kate Andrews has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Has Kate Middleton united America? For the past few days, we have been one nation under her spell. The Princess of Wales has dominated Google searches in the United States ever since Kensington Palace released that now-notorious doctored photo of her with her children for Mother’s Day. Her name search beat that of both ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Joe Biden’ over the past week.

To say she has broken the internet would be only the start of it: rumours of her well-being are making their way into every newsroom, dive bar and church fellowship hour across America.

My friends from all over the country text and call me to ask the same question: what’s happened to Kate? They know I’m as removed from the royal family as anyone could be, but I’m in London and I work in Westminster so they hope I’ve heard a theory that hasn’t made its way across the pond just yet. Left-liberal pals who usually text me when Trump says something obscene now want to know when I last walked by Buckingham Palace. Did anything seem strange? More right-leaning friends, who tend to send videos of Biden jumbling his words, want to know if it’s unusual in Britain to not wear your wedding ring. Or did someone photoshop her ring out of the Mother’s Day photo, too? Is that even her hand in the picture?

I wonder if Kate knows she has achieved the impossible in bringing America together in this way. I suppose that depends on where she’s been, how she’s been faring and how much she’s checking the news – all questions that largely remain unanswered. Either way, it’s an impressive feat and a wonderful service she has performed.