THE Prince and Princess of Wales are under an “enormous stress” and Kate Middleton shouldn’t be pushed into returning to work too soon, a royal expert has said.
The warning comes after Kensington Palace said the Princess, 42, has started working from home as she eases herself back into her royal duties following her abdominal surgery.
Although she is not set to return to the public eye until after Easter.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said that while her return to some duties was a “positive sign” he also sounded a note of caution.
He said: “I would urge people actually not to push her too much.
“She's probably been through quite a big operation and needs time to recover.
“I think, if she happens to need another month or two, well, so be it.
“But do let's let her get well and get better in her own time, and stop persecuting her.”
Mr Vickers also raised the alarm about the impact the wild rumours and mad conspiracy theories that have been circulating about the royal couple could have on them.
He said: “The things that have been said about her have been unbelievable.
“That must have had a very bad effect on her to be quite honest, and on Prince William.
“So the stress that they must be under both of them must be enormous.”
Mr Vickers said that while she was at home in Adelaide Cottage he wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she is “making plans and in touch with people, probably doing the occasional Zoom meeting and telephone calls and planning for things”.
It’s thought Kate will be continuing her work with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which is aimed at raising the profile of the early years development of children, which she has hailed as her "life's work".
The charity has funded a trial of a baby observation tool, and the results have been published today.
Mr Vickers said: “The Early Years project is something very close to the Princess of Wales's heart.
“And it's involved with the early months, weeks and months of a child's life, when you can observe all sorts of physical and psychological traits and things, and you can get on top of those very early.
“So it's a very important thing, and I'm not at all surprised to hear that she's throwing herself into that.”
Adding to the stressful situation for the royal couple is the news of the alleged hacking scandal with the hospital being investigated over delaying the breach report by a week.
Three workers from The London Clinic are currently being investigated over claims they tried to access the royal's medical records during her stay in January.
Mr Vickers branded the allegations as “absolutely outrageous”.
He said: “It is important, very, very important, that there is confidentiality in all medical matters.
“This is absolutely outrageous, and you can see exactly what's in the mind of the person who is trying to steal these papers, that they will make a lot of money in exposing what actually happened in her operation and that's to nobody's advantage at all.
“That's absolutely disgraceful. It's one thing to take a lovely, moving film of somebody coming out of a farm shop at Windsor, and looking happy, as opposed to exposing a very, very private medical details.”
Health minister Maria Caulfield said police have "been asked to look at" the allegations.
The Clinic could face a £17.5million fine over the alleged data breach, a medical privacy expert told The Sun.
It is a criminal offence for any staff in an NHS or private healthcare setting to access the medical records of a patient without the consent of the organisation’s data controller.
Claims have reportedly sent shockwaves through The London Clinic leaving medics distraught at the "breach of trust and ethics".
Kate was admitted to the clinic for her planned procedure on January 16.
Her father-in-law King Charles was then admitted the following week for an enlarged prostate.
The London Clinic's chief executive, Al Russell, previously said "all appropriate investigatory, regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken" when looking at alleged data breaches.
The news comes as the dad who filmed Kate shopping with William last weekend has told conspiracy theorist trolls: “What more do you need to lay off her?”
Nelson Silva, 40, saw Kate “with my own eyes” looking relaxed in Windsor.
But yesterday trolls were still pushing their bizarre claims — despite The Sun releasing Nelson’s exclusive video of her at Windsor Farm Shop on Saturday lunchtime.
Incredibly, some said it was a Kate lookalike. Others that it was too tall to be her.
Another crazy claim was that the footage was taken in December as there are “Christmas decorations” in the background.
