Which celebrities have apologised after Kate made her cancer diagnosis announcement?

A number of celebrities have publicly apologised after the Princess of Wales revealed her cancer diagnosis.

Last Friday evening, Kate, 42, announced in a video that she had been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing a course of preventative chemotherapy.

In the clip, which was recorded last Wednesday, she said the diagnosis had come as a "huge shock" and that she and the Prince of Wales were doing "everything to manage this privately for the sake of our young family".

Watch: Princess of Wales announces she is being treated for cancer

Her announcement put an end to weeks of online conspiracy theories about her condition after she underwent abdominal surgery in January, delaying a return to public life.

Thousands of social media users spread speculation about the princess, particularly after she released a Mother's Day photo of her and her children that she later admitted had been edited.

But among those to join in were a number of celebrities, some of whom have apologised since Kate's emotional announcement.

Blake Lively

Actress Blake Lively was one of the first celebrities to apologise in the wake of Kate's announcement.

The 36-year-old star, who is married to actor Ryan Reynolds, published an apology on her Instagram page.

Lively wrote: "I'm sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this.

"I made a silly post around the 'Photoshop fails' frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I'm sorry."

Lively had previously made a reference to Kate's Mother's Day photo in a post on 13 March in which she promoted her drinks range.

She had written: "I'm so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I've been MIA."

Gary Goldsmith

The maternal uncle of the princess, Gary Goldsmith, apologised after an interview he had given with The Times newspaper was published on Saturday, just hours after Kate's announcement about her diagnosis.

Goldsmith, who has been in the public eye recently after his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, posted on X on Saturday: "As many will have seen, I am featured in Saturday's 'Times Magazine'. This interview and shoot was done over a week ago and went to print before I was aware of the sad news regarding my niece Kate.

"My thoughts and prayers are with Kate and the wider family at this difficult time and deeply upset at the timing of this article. I hope this draws a line over the continued speculation and horrible conspiracies."

In The Times interview, Goldsmith had said of Kate and William: "Are they at their absolute happiest? No. Their kids bring them a lot of joy, but no."

Owen Jones

Left-wing political commentator Owen Jones said sorry for speculating about Kate before her cancer diagnosis announcement.

Within minutes of the release of Kate's video, Jones apologised on X, formerly Twitter, for his previous comments about the Mother's Day photo.

Jones, who quit the Labour Party earlier this week, posted: "As someone who speculated on this without considering it could be a serious health condition, I’m very ashamed to be honest, and all the very best to her."

In another tweet, he said: "I speculated over the photo being faked without considering that the reason might be a health condition."

Sarah Vine

Columnist Sarah Vine, the ex-wife of levelling up secretary Michael Gove, used her column in the Mail on Sunday to apologise. She wrote: "Never explain, never apologise, the old saying goes. But there are times when one must do both.

"We all, to a greater or lesser extent, owe the Prince and Princess of Wales an apology – myself included – for giving them such a hard time over that doctored Mother’s Day photo, as well as Prince William’s last-minute decision to pull out of his godfather’s memorial service."

In a previous column earlier this month, Vine had written that Kate's admission she edited the Mother's Day photo had "only added another layer to the mille-feuille of conspiracies, raising far more questions than it answered".

Kerry Katona

Reality TV personality Kerry Katona, 43, also apologised for spreading conspiracy theories about the princess.

Katona told The Sun: "There were so many conspiracy theories. I'll hold my hands up. I think I was one of them as well you know it was like the Royal Family are our family.

"Everyone thinks that they know who you are as a true person and I just feel like we've all gone down this rabbit hole and I got sucked in."

'Absolutely ashamed'

There have been calls for Kim Kardashian to issue her own apology to the princess after the reality TV star made a joke about the situation earlier this month.

In a post on her Instagram page last Saturday, Kardashian wrote: "On my way to go find Kate."

Following the princess's announcement on Friday evening, Kardashian's Instagram post was flooded with comments from angry users demanding that she apologise.

Meanwhile, broadcaster Piers Morgan criticised those who had spread conspiracy theories about the princess, writing on X: "People on here shrieking 'LEAVE KATE ALONE!' when they have spent the past few weeks spewing insane conspiracy theories about her is beyond parody.

"Shut up, you shameless hypocrites."

And former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told Sky News: "I hope that those social media trolls who have peddled such ghastly hurtful theories will now realise what they've done and be absolutely ashamed of themselves."

'Inhumanity of social media'

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate in the US, has said the speculation surrounding Kate before her announcement was a demonstration of the "inhumanity" of social media.

He told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: "When you've got a young lady like the Princess of Wales who has clearly suffered a medical emergency, you see people flooding in with conspiracy theories, you see them being amplified on social media platforms [and] pushed to millions and millions of people.

"What really annoyed me was seeing that she was then being 're-victimised' by being blamed for not having come out immediately. And of course a family needs to have its time and its privacy.

"I think it's the inhumanity of the way social media has made us behave, forcing people to talk about things that can be very deeply personal. And also seeing the impact of that on our society: how quickly it was picked up by millions of people and how much it has done damage to the Royal Family themselves."

Read more

• Blake Lively apologises for making Kate joke after Princess of Wales shares cancer diagnosis (Evening Standard)

• Kim Kardashian urged to apologise for 'distasteful' joke about Catherine, Princess of Wales (Cover)

• Social media trolls 'should be ashamed' of Kate conspiracy theories, says Jennie Bond (The Independent)