Kensington Palace on Thursday shut down the rumors recently swirling across the web and parts of mainstream media regarding Kate Middleton‘s health and whereabouts following her January surgery, reiterating that the she is on the mend and will remain out of public life until Easter.

“We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant,” a palace rep for the princess said Thursday. 

The royal underwent a planned abdominal surgery at The London Clinic on Jan. 16. While there was no public announcement ahead of her surgery, it was made known immediately afterward that the procedure was a success for Princess Catherine, who remained in the hospital to recover for 13 days before heading home to continue on her path to health and a return to royal duties. In the Jan. 17 announcement, palace representatives made a clear statement regarding the plan for the mother of three over the next several weeks, announcing that “based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”

Yet this straightforward clarity of the state of affairs in Windsor, where the Prince and Princess of Wales moved with their three children in 2022, did nothing to stop a deluge of chatter and conspiracy theories from tearing across the web — and this week, also finding their way into reputable publications. 

This was likely because, before this statement, which came after the surprise news that the surgery had happened, she had not been seen in public since Christmas Eve, when she attended a mass with her family in Sandringham, a village in the coastal county of Norfolk. And notably, the word that the wildly popular princess would not be seen between Christmas and Easter came weeks before other surprising news out of another nearby royal residence: King Charles would be undergoing treatment for cancer, Buckingham Palace announced on Feb. 5. This straightforwardness regarding a sitting King’s health was unprecedented for the royals and set off chatter about abdication, protocol and succession.

Rumors grew louder over the next several weeks and on Tuesday, more fodder for speculation came when Prince William pulled out of a memorial service in Windsor to honor King Constantine of Greece, his godfather; “a personal matter” was the reason given for this sudden move, so naturally, royal watchers’ thoughts turned to Catherine and her ongoing recovery. Kensington Palace kept its statements vague, telling People the public is not to worry, as she “continues to be doing well.”

Some of the rumors around Catherine have stemmed from the fact that the couple’s three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — did not visit their mother over the 13-day period she was recovering in the hospital, People reported. However, this is explained by the London Clinic’s policy prohibiting “children or babies from entering the hospital.”

Others, meanwhile, have noted that precisely what surgery the princess underwent, other than that it was abdominal, is perhaps suspect. However, the initial statement from Kensington Palace back in January included that “[Catherine] hopes that the public will understand … her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

And while the silence coming out of Windsor on the Catherine matter was also made crystal clear from the start, it has now been repeated, just in case it was missed: “Kensington Palace will … only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’ progress when there is significant new information to share.”