Will the conspiracy theories about Kate ever die?

At last, the matter should have been settled. After the innumerable articles, social media posts and television pundits all speculating as to what, exactly, has happened to the Princess of Wales, it was revealed over the weekend that she had been seen with her husband, looking in good health, visiting a farm shop – that bastion of well-heeled Englishness. The story seems designed to reassure anyone that she is one of their own, as well as, one day, the future queen.

There was, of course, some scepticism about the Sun’s initial revelation, given that it was not substantiated with pictures or videos. So the development that there is, indeed, footage of her looking ‘happy and relaxed’ should, one hopes, put the near-endless rumours about the state of her health to bed. Even as it was being widely (and, at the time of writing, erroneously) speculated that the royal family was on the point of making an unspecified major announcement about one of their number, the widespread gossip and prurient suggestion seems to have been disproved by the recent leak.

It remains unclear whether Kensington Palace will be horrified by the video of a private occasion being splashed all over a newspaper or, secretly, rather relieved.