Is Kate Middleton’s disappearance a modern-day Purim story?
Kate, William and Camilla are engaged in a Purimspiel. Photo-illustration by Jake Wasserman/Canva/Getty/Wikimedia Commons/Artemisia Gentileschi “Esther before Ahasuerus”
By PJ Grisar March 13, 2024
It seems like everyone these days is buzzing about a hidden queen-to-be, her scheming husband and a master manipulator close to the throne hoping for a royal undoing.
I speak of course of the plot of Purim, but also, about the speculation regarding Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, who seems to have disappeared from the public eye for months, a palace intrigue referred to variously as “KateGate” or “WaterKate.”
Many think Queen Camilla is the architect Middleton’s demise. Some claim Prince William is having an affair and working to sideline his bride. Still others allege that Middleton’s “planned abdominal surgery” in January was more involved than the Windsors would have you believe, and so, her convalescence is just taking a while. (Apparently she’ll be back by Easter and is “recovering well.”)
Doing nothing to allay suspicion was the circulation of a doctored photo Sunday — ultimately killed by news agencies — showing Middleton with her three children. Middleton later apologized, saying that the eeriness of the snap was due to her own amateur “experiment with editing.” But, sleuths online believe that the image is a composite, with Middleton’s face taken from a Vogue cover from years before.
If you’re looking for a topical twist to your upcoming Purimspiel, you could do worse — though, admittedly, it may be in quite poor taste depending on what’s actually going on here.
We have most of the elements. If William is indeed forcing Middleton out of the picture, this recalls the opening of the Megillah, where Ahasuerus banishes (or in some midrash kills) his queen, Vashti, for refusing to appear before his bros. This also tracks with speculation that William is asking for a divorce to make way for a new woman in his life.
But Middleton is not just Vashti in this scenario. You may recall how young Hadassah took the name of Esther, the Hebrew root of which means “hidden.” In the king’s harem, and later as his queen, she concealed her Jewish identity and had to keep a pretty low profile. She had to be summoned to see the king, or at least get her husband’s scepter-based signoff to approach the throne.
Princess Catherine is in her own hidden era, and, the wildest of the conspiracy theories, while not alleging the planned slaughter of her family over some petty slight, do suggest that Camilla, Haman-like, is maneuvering to keep Kate from the limelight — perhaps permanently.
In all likelihood, the truth is far less salacious than anything that went down in Shushan or even a so-so season of The Crown.
It would indeed be a shame if Middleton attained the kingdom for such a time as this — a time when anyone and everyone can weigh in on how they think her mother-in-law, conspiring with your adulterous husband and a team of bewildered staffers at Kensington Palace doing hasty Photoshop, secretly ended her life.
But, if the Purim story teaches us anything — apart from “they tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat the bad guy’s hat” — it’s that royalty ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
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