<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper">Rumour consumers</h2>

Catherine, Princess of Wales, looks pale but calm as she looks into the camera. "I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, personally," she says, "for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I have been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months...

"In January, I underwent major abdominalRelating to the abdomen, the part of the body known commonly as the belly or the tummy. surgery in London. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present."

No other member of the royal family has spoken so openly about their health. The fact that Kate felt she had to is a measure of how harmful the rumours about her were.

Some focused on the fact that a picture of her with her children had been photoshopped. Others suggested that she was having cosmetic surgery. Meanwhile, in real life, she was undergoing chemotherapyA treatment for cancer that uses powerful drugs to kill cells..

The Archbishop of CanterburyAlthough the head of the Church of England is the Queen, the Archbishop is the most senior bishop and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican communion. condemned the rumours:¹ "It's extremely unhealthy. It's just old-fashioned village gossip that can now go round the world in seconds. We have to turn away from that."

"Finally the wicked social media trolls will be silenced," declared Jennie Bond in The i newsaper. "I hope the conspiracy theorists who have spread such absurd and hurtful rubbish feel ashamed."

But will they? The public's appetite for status updates on the princess's health, are unlikely to go away, argues Vanessa Thorpe in The Observer.

The historian Yuval Noah Harari argues that gossip has been essential to the human race's survival. It was a way for our early ancestors "to make alliesAn ally is someone that aligns with and supports a cause with another individual or group of people., learn who could be trusted and who was best to avoid. Gossiping is a fundamental part of human connection...today, it can used as a bonding factor in friendships."²

Are we all guilty?

Yes: We live in a society where gossip is seen as a commodityA useful thing. The word has the same origin as "commode", the name of an old type of toilet. by newspapers and social media platforms. We are collectively responsible for this state of affairs and are not doing enough to combat it.

No: It is entirely proper to take an interest in a public figure. That interest only becomes gossip among small-minded people with such uninteresting lives that they have to pick apart those of others.

Or... Gossip helps to ensure that people behave in a responsible way. Everyone will act more carefully and openly if they believe they are in danger of having rumours spread about them.

abdominal - Relating to the abdomen, the part of the body known commonly as the belly or the tummy.

chemotherapy - A treatment for cancer that uses powerful drugs to kill cells.

Archbishop of Canterbury - Although the head of the Church of England is the Queen, the Archbishop is the most senior bishop and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican communion.

allies - An ally is someone that aligns with and supports a cause with another individual or group of people.

Commodity - A useful thing. The word has the same origin as "commode", the name of an old type of toilet.