Kate Middleton has been celebrated for her dramatic recovery from a crippling, pregnancy-related illness that kept her away from public appearances for six weeks — but according to a new report Wednesday, that celebration may have been premature. Queen Elizabeth, palace sources say, bullied the Duchess of Cambridge back to work even though the pregnant Kate was still gravely ill.
As the Inquisitr reported earlier , Kate Middleton was in such a poor state of health that she collapsed following an official engagement on October 21, after being forced out in public by the Queen, who is said to have lost patience with her daughter-in-law’s illness. In her day, the Queen is reported to have said, the British royals kept up appearances and performed their public duties at all costs — regardless of whether they had an upset tummy or some other problem that caused them to feel unwell.
“Queen Elizabeth has a very strong work ethic and hardly had to cancel any royal duties during her lifetime due to ill health,” a palace “insider” whispered to the tabloid Life and Style Magazine , in a report that has not been posted on line but was quoted by the Hollywood Life site. “She will always put work first and believes Kate should be doing the same.”
The illness that Kate Middleton is suffering causes her to have a nearly impossible time keeping food down, vomiting between 20 and 30 times every day. She is required to be attached to an IV drip just to prevent severe dehydration.
But the severity of Kate’s condition appears to be lost on Queen Elizabeth, who believes that if Kate Middleton were really so sick that she can’t leave the house, she should just go to the hospital rather than stay at her mother’s house, the reports say .
“The queen had been unimpressed at the amount of official business Kate has missed out on,” another source told the magazine. “She feels enough is enough. Duty comes first, and it was time for Kate to step up to the plate.”
Kate Middleton has reportedly lost a dangerous amount of weight due to her illness and, if the reports are true, the Queen’s bullying may have placed the royal baby Kate is carrying in danger. Experts say that babies carried by underweight mothers are at “significant risk.”
Not only are babies of underweight mothers at greater risk of being born underweight themselves, but a recent study showed that those babies also have more than twice the rate of infant mortality — that is, dying before the age of one year — as babies born to women who gain normal amounts of weight during pregnancy.
But according to the Wednesday reports, none of those risks could have made much of an impression on the Queen. Kate Middleton appears to have learned that though the Queen may no longer hold any political power, the monarch still rules her family with an iron fist.