"Toxic" Speculation About Princess Kate's Whereabouts Is Only Making Prince William "More Determined" Not to Share Details About Her Illness: Sources

Speculation about Princess Kate's whereabouts has been running rampant over the past week—whether in earnest or for the sake of keeping the memes alive.

But according to sources close to the Royal Family, if people on the internet think that this kind of theorizing (from people online as well as from publications such as the Daily Mail) will pressure Prince William into sharing more in-depth details about his wife's illness and recovery, they're out of luck.

One friend of the royals' told The Daily Beast, "The newspapers are always telling the family how to run their press operations. This time—surprise surprise—they seem to think it would be a good idea for the Royal Family to give them more information about Kate. William isn’t a big one for doing stuff because the Daily Mail says he should."

The source felt the same way about social media speculation. "If William has read any of this stuff, it will only make him more determined to stick to his guns and keep his wife out of the limelight while she recovers," they said. "The stuff people are writing is toxic."

While the Princess of Wales recovers from an abdominal surgery she underwent in January, she is laying very low, and in fact hasn't been seen in public since Christmas Day—hence the speculation and assorted conspiracy theories.

Kensington Palace has not shared details of the princess' treatment beyond the phrase "planned abdominal surgery," and confirmed from the get-go that Kate would not resume royal duties until at least after Easter.

A former royal staffer shared with The Daily Beast, "Anyone who expects the Palace to suddenly start giving lengthy updates on Kate will be disappointed. The principal aim of her being sequestered is to guard her privacy. I’m sure the press hate it because it is working. There is a really, really small bubble of people who know exactly what is going on."

After speculation began to reach a crescendo online, the Palace released a strongly worded statement, which read, "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."