Will this end royal speculation?

LONDON — A shopping trip may never have received such scrutiny.

After more than a week of speculation and rumor about the whereabouts and health of Kate, the Princess of Wales, a grainy video emerged appearing to show her out with her husband, Prince William.

That might have been the end of the story in a different era. Not so in the age of internet-fueled conspiracy theories and nosediving trust in public institutions: a time where anything is forgeable and therefore everything, especially anything put out by Britain’s royal family these past few weeks, remains open to questions.

The video, published by British tabloid The Sun, shows a man in a baseball cap and jacket, accompanied by a woman with brown hair wearing a hooded sweater and sports leggings. The newspaper said it was filmed at Windsor Farm shop, near the couple’s home to the west of London, and splashed the story on its front page alongside the headline, “Great to see you again, Kate!”

Britain’s most-read paper, The Daily Mail, summarized the generally sympathetic tone of the country’s news media, calling it, “The image the world has been waiting to see.”

The gossip website TMZ, which also published the video, said it had “delved into the metadata” and had “no doubt” that, this was a “legitimate video.”

NBC News has asked Kensington Palace for any details it can share on the video, without response. But they would have known that someone at this very public place would likely spot them, NBC News Royal Commentator Daisy McAndrew told “TODAY” on Tuesday.

“This was a genuine member of the public who happened to see Kate and William at this farm shop,” McAndrew said. “But was it set up, in that they knew perfectly well that somebody would take a photograph of them? Yes, I think we can assume that was the case,” she added.

McAndrew said she thought there was a strong chance Kate makes her official return to the public eye on Easter Sunday.

In the meantime the video has not been enough to convince some of the frenzied masses on social media who have become enthralled by the saga, and whose engagement with the royal rumor mill had reached fever pitch just as the video emerged.

Whether the palace or the rest of the public agrees, this is still a topic of intense conversation, with related search terms among the trending topics on multiple platforms.

“That ain’t Kate….,” said TV producer Andy Cohen, who has 2.2 million followers on X.

At the center of all this is a woman who, according to the palace, is recovering from major abdominal surgery and has always been expected to be out of action until at least the end of this month.

“Once we do have answers about what has gone on with the Princess of Wales these past few months, people are going to feel sincerely guilty about their behavior,” Kinsey Schofield, host of the To Di For Daily royal podcast, told Britain’s Times Radio on Tuesday.

Polling for Sky News, NBC News’ British partner, suggested that more than half of the population had seen the conspiracy theories, but that trust in the royals had not been significantly dented.

At the same time, even many sober royal experts say there have been a slew of decisions by the palace that at best do not help the royal cause with the public, providing fodder for observers seeking to uncover some grand conspiracy.

The picture agency Getty, one of those that pulled Kate’s family photo last week, added an editor’s note Tuesday to another royal image taken by the princess, saying her photo of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her grandchildren from 2022 had been “digitally enhanced at source.”