Kate Middleton is continuing to recover from planned abdominal surgery. but her health battle has knocked her confidence and left her feeling “fragile,” one expert asserts.
The Princess of Wales, 42, is expected to return to public duties sometime after Easter, but royal writer Jennie Bond says her progress could be hampered by her uncle Gary Goldsmith’s appearance on UK’s “Celebrity Big Brother.”
Goldsmith — who is the brother of the princess’s mother Carole Middleton — has been making on-air comments about his royal niece, which may be giving the royal undue stress.
“Clearly whatever’s happened to Catherine, she’s probably feeling fragile — mentally as well,” Bond told The Mirror.
“To have a serious setback like this at the prime of your life, it must knock your confidence and so she’ll be fragile at this stage in her recovery and to have this thrown at her. She must just be thinking, ‘Why, why, why did Uncle Gary have to do this?’ I imagine she’s thoroughly depressed about it,” the expert added.
Goldsmith addressed Kate’s health battle on “Celebrity Big Brother” earlier this week, following feverish global speculation about her whereabouts.
He said the princess was receiving the “best care in the world” following her two-week stint in a London hospital in January.
He added that “all the family has put the wagons down” to rally around the royal.
However, Bond believes Goldsmith could be pretending to be closer to Kate than he actually is.
.”I don’t think it’s a particularly close relationship and I don’t think he’s part of the ‘inner circle’ anymore – I think he’s increasingly been pushed outside that circle now,” she stated.
Since her surgery, Middleton has reportedly been recovering in her home at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands,” her office told The Post last week, adding that she was “doing well.”
On Monday, the mother of three was spotted for the first time since her surgery alongside mom Carole, 69, sitting in the passenger seat of a car.
Her last public appearance was on Christmas Day, where she attended church at Sandringham with her husband Prince William and their three children.
