Rumors of a Kate Middleton miscarriage were greatly exaggerated, despite alarming reports that surfaced in a United States tabloid earlier this week. In fact, the Duchess of Cambridge is proceeding along so well with her pregnancy — now in its seventh month — that her husband, Prince William, felt comfortable leaving Kate behind as he jetted off to Japan, alone.
The Kate Middleton miscarriage rumors were apparently started by the celebrity publication Star , which splashed a photo of a distraught Duchess across its cover with the panic-inducing headlines, “Breaking News: 7 Weeks Early! Kate Rushed To Hospital. Palace Orders Media Blackout —Hospital prepares for premature birth — William rushes to her bedside.”
The story also said that Kate Middleton was in danger of a miscarriage. The report was especially frightening for royal watchers because third-trimester miscarriages are rare and can indicate a dangerous underlying condition such as infection or an undetected thyroid condition.
The Star report vent viral throughout the online media, appearing in even non-gossip publications.
But that got the Star’s rivals on the royal gossip circuit on the case, and other sites quickly discovered that the rumors of a Kate Middleton miscarriage — or for that matter, any new health crisis at all — were, they said, completely made up.
So made up, in fact, that Prince William, Kate Middleton’s husband and father of her soon-to-be-born child, not only did not “rush to her bedside, he boarded a jet and touched down in Japan on Thursday for the start of a four-day royal visit to the Far East, which will take the prince to both Japan and China.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, everything appears to be fine .
“If you’re wondering how an American magazine of low repute managed to get this exclusive, it’s because it’s fabricated,” wrote the site Gossip Cop , which as its name implies, has made a mission of policing other gossip sites for phony stories such as the Kate Middleton miscarriage.
“Because this story is imaginary, Star needed to find a way to explain why no one knew when one of the world’s most famous women was allegedly rushed to the hospital,” wrote Gossip Cop . “Here it is: ‘The palace went into lockdown,’ says Star, noting that no one was allowed to talk to the media.”
Yet, despite this “lockdown,” Star , of all places, managed to get the details and run with the story.
“We’re pretty sure we would have heard about Kate Middleton going into premature labor and possibly having a miscarriage – if it were really happening,” another royal-hounding site , Celeb Dirty Laundry , added.
Suffice to say that royal watchers and Kate Middleton fans around the world can relax. The Duchess of Cambridge did not have a miscarriage or go into premature labor, and she is fully expected to deliver a healthy baby sometime in April.
[Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images]
