Kate Middleton: #IStandWithCatherine Trends On X Amid The Princess' Absence From St. Patrick's Day Parade

Kate Middleton has missed another major royal event amid her recovery from abdominal surgery. She missed the recent St. Patrick's Day parade, and Lady Ghika, the wife of a Regimental Lieutenant Colonel, handled her traditional role of handing out shamrock sprigs.

In her absence, fans of the Princess took to social media to send her well-wishes and show her support with the hashtag "#IStandWithCatherine." Amid worries about her whereabouts, Kensington Palace has already announced that Kate will resume her Royal duties after Easter, so it's unclear if she'll attend the holiday's events.

The Princess of Wales missed another of her traditional holiday events because of her downtime to recover from abdominal surgery. As Kate took a break from Royal duties, the Irish Guards held their annual St. Patrick's Day parade. Kate attended the 2023 celebrations, which was her first appearance since she was named the honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards.

Despite missing the parade, the Irish Guards still honored Princess Kate during the celebrations. A source told People Magazine ahead of the parade that they had plans to give Kate three cheers after the parade, which was held at Mons Barracks in Hampshire.

Even though she missed the parade, Kate and Prince William still shared a post celebrating the event on Instagram. The post read, "Happy St Patrick's Day! Here's a sneak peek of the @irishguards rehearsing for their annual parade. Sláinte to all those celebrating today!”

Due to her position as Honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards, Kate has multiple traditional roles for the parade.

However, because of the princess' absence, her duty to hand out shamrock sprigs for the guards to pin on their uniforms was delegated to Lady Ghika, the wife of Major General Sir Christopher Ghika, the Regimental Lieutenant Colonel.

Major General Sir Christopher Ghika also handled the salute. In addition to issuing the shamrocks, Kate was meant to receive the Royal salute and mark the parade by greeting Irish wolfhound Turlough Mor, aka Seamus. The greeting was meant to be a toast with a pint of Guinness or water if she was pregnant.

Royal fans took to social media to show their unwavering support for Kate amid her recovery and following her controversial Mother's Day Photoshop picture fiasco.

Kate was showered with kind words and comments wishing her a speedy recovery due to her notable absence from the St. Patrick's Day parade.

One person wrote, "Happy St Patrick's Day! The Princess of Wales is Colonel of the Irish Guards #IStandWithCatherine."

Another said, "You can't break her. You've tried, but THIS Princess is made of steel. The blatant [crucifixion] for photoshop that EVERYONE does now in[on] [social media] just tells me that this is an orchestrated campaign to tear her down #IStandWithCatherine & you cannot win the love that we reserve for HER."

Since announcing Kate's abdominal surgery in January, the Princess of Wales has been out of public view. In their initial statement, Kensington Palace announced that Kate is "unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter," which is the advice given by her doctors.

The Palace released a subsequent statement on February 29 reiterating the presumed date for her return after rumors started about her being missing. Some royal fans have speculated online that Kate's first appearance post-surgery will be at the annual royal family Easter church outing, which is scheduled for March 31.

While the statement from Kensington Palace makes it clear that her duties won't resume until April, the Easter Royal outing is more of a private family event. As such, there's a strong possibility that she might actually make it to the church event. It would definitely be the best way to quell ongoing rumors about her absence.

Kate's absence at the St. Patrick's Day celebration has further fueled the rumors that have circulated since her abdominal surgery. The rumors started after Kate missed multiple events and William dropped out of royal engagements because of her absence.

The rumors worsened after Kensington Palace released an edited photo of Kate and their three kids for Mother's Day. In the photo, the Princess was also missing her wedding ring, the iconic diamond and sapphire piece that previously belonged to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

Since then, fans have speculated that Kate has actually gone missing or was hospitalized for a more severe health issue than abdominal surgery.

There have also been rumors that Kate's absence was due to William's alleged affair with the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, Rose Hanbury.

Stephen Colbert even discussed the rumors on a recent episode of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." He said, "The kingdom has been all aflutter by the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton. Now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate's absence may be related to her husband and the future king of England, William, having an affair."

This affair rumor started as far back as 2019, and palace sources have since branded it "damaging" and completely "false."