The Princess of Wales carried a shopping bag on her way out of the Windsor Farm Shop with Prince William
Kate Middleton was seen on video for the first time in months during a shopping trip with Prince William over the weekend.
On Monday, TMZ published video footage of the couple’s visit to the Windsor Farm Shop on Saturday. The 40-second clip shows Prince William, 41, and Princess Kate, 42, wearing casual clothes and each carrying a shopping bag. Princess Kate smiles and chats with her husband as they walk through the parking lot.
The sighting marks the first time the Princess of Wales has been seen out in public since Kensington Palace announced that she had had “planned abdominal surgery” on Jan. 16.
Over the weekend, The Sun reported that Princess Kate appeared “happy, relaxed and healthy” during the visit to the Windsor Farm Shop. The outlet said that the Prince and Princess of Wales popped by the local store, which is a mile from their home at Adelaide Cottage, on Saturday.
“Kate was out shopping with William and she looked happy and she looked well, ” an onlooker told the outlet.
While William and Kate’s children Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, didn’t tag along for the shopping trip, The Sun reported that the Prince and Princess of Wales also spent some of the weekend watching their kids play sports.
It’s no surprise that the Prince and Princess of Wales are keeping their three kids on a schedule, as the initial statement from Kensington Palace about Princess Kate’s surgery expressed her wish to “maintain as much normality for her children as possible” during this time.
Kate has been twice spotted traveling by car in recent weeks, first on March 4 with her mother Carole Middleton and again last Monday with Prince William.
PEOPLE understands that Princess Kate was heading to a private appointment, while the Prince of Wales stepped out with members of the royal family for the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey last Monday.
The outing came on the same day that the Princess of Wales released a surprise statement to social media to social media for “any confusion” around her Mother’s Day photo after multiple global photo agencies pulled the picture amid suspicion of manipulation.
A palace insider downplayed the PR crisis, exclusively telling PEOPLE that although the situation is a “bump in the road, it’s not an earthquake.”
However, Mark Borkowski, a London-based public relations and crisis communications expert, tells PEOPLE that in trying to share a new image with the public, the palace hasn’t calmed concerns — “in fact, it’s made it worse.”
“Now some people are asking if it is all generated by AI or is it a Photoshop of a photo taken. It’s not something you’d want the royal brand to be aligned with,” he says.
Kate may speak out about her health when she returns to public duty, according to a new report.
On Saturday, The Sunday Times cited insiders close to Kate and Prince William, indicating that they anticipate the couple will share details about the royal’s surgery and recovery, but they will do so on their timeline and terms.
“They are at their most open when out interacting with members of the public and I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements,” a royal source told the outlet. “If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it.”
A friend added: “They will want to be clear and more open, but they’ll do it when they feel ready. I would expect that to be her instinct and it will be her call. They’re not going to be rushed.”
