In 2024, the Princess of Wales went missing for months. Kensington Palace announced, in early January, that Kate had been hospitalized for a “scheduled” abdominal surgery for a still-unknown health issue. The papers swore up and down that Kate remained in the hospital for almost two weeks, and Prince William was only photographed visiting his wife in the hospital once. From there, we all remember what happened – a disappearance, conspiracies, extremely weird rumors, then a flurry of random “sightings,” and then, eventually, Kate’s video announcement that she was being treated for cancer.
At the time, one of the strangest parts about Kate’s missing months was the lack of unsubstantiated gossip. You have to understand, the royal-media machine lives on random gossip and someone always knows something, right? Someone has a friend or a neighbor whose cousin saw Kate at such-and-such hospital or someone heard from a courtier that Kate’s surgery was about such-and-such. For months, no one was speaking or gossiping, especially not anyone from Kate’s medical team or anyone at any hospital. In fact, back in March 2024, there was an investigation into someone *attempting* to leak information about Kate’s medical condition. Well, we finally have an update on that investigation now, over two years later.
A former healthcare worker at the London Clinic has been cautioned by the Information Commissioner’s Office over the deliberate misuse of the Princess of Wales’s private medical records and offering to disclose them for financial gain. The ICO began a criminal investigation in March 2024 into the unlawful obtaining and disclosure of medical information to a third party without the consent of the data controller, after the London Clinic reported a breach.
At the time, it was reported that at least one member of staff had tried to access Kate’s notes while she was a patient at the private hospital in central London in January.
The princess stayed at the clinic for 13 days after undergoing abdominal surgery. She then announced in March of that year that she had been diagnosed with cancer, which was detected during the surgery.
The ICO said on Wednesday: “Following a full assessment under the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the ICO’s Prosecution Policy, the ICO issued a now former healthcare professional from London with a formal caution in relation to an offence under section 170(5) of the Data Protection Act 2018. The conduct involved the deliberate misuse of highly sensitive personal information and an offer to disclose it for financial gain, representing a clear breach of trust.”
The ICO said that a caution was “the appropriate and proportionate enforcement response”.
It added: “We also considered whether there were any wider organisational issues arising from the healthcare provision in this matter. Based on the evidence available, we did not identify any failings that would meet the threshold for regulatory enforcement.”
The worker, who The Mirror has reported is believed to be a nurse, has been struck off, according to the newspaper.
I had to look up “formal caution” because I was like “that can’t be right.” But no, formal caution is just a proverbial slap on the wrist. It’s the British justice system saying “you did a bad thing, you should be ashamed of yourself, now move along.” Over two years of investigating and all of these overwrought headlines and storylines about Kate’s medical records, and the now-fired nurse isn’t getting punished whatsoever. Sure, she lost her job. She probably knew that was going to happen as she tried to access the records. But that’s it? Sounds like she actually did access Kate’s records and she was able to parlay her knowledge into walking away free and clear.
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Cover Images.
