In April 2024, numerous Facebook pages posted a rumor about the British royal family claiming William, Prince of Wales, had made a sad announcement about his wife, Kate, Princess of Wales. The posts all read, “Prince William makes the sad announcement that leaves fans in tears: ‘My wife it’s been…’” This same text was shared on Facebook in March, too.

One example came from a page named PrayAmerica:

This rumor was shared on Facebook after a March 22 video announcement in which Kate disclosed she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. The news followed King Charles III’s own cancer diagnosis, which was disclosed by Buckingham Palace on Feb. 5.

“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous,” Kate said in the video. “The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy.”

As for the rumor about William, the Facebook posts promoting the supposed “sad announcement” were misleading, false, scammy and outdated.

The Facebook posts each led to various articles about the royal family. These articles were not hosted by major news websites readers might be familiar with. The best way to describe these websites would be with words like “strange,” “lifeless” and “untrustworthy.” Further, some of the websites displayed pop-up ads and other malware, perhaps indicating the goal of some of the Facebook posts was to scam users.

Aside from the Facebook posts, it’s true William did once utter the four-word “my wife it’s been” as part of a longer statement. The context of these words can be found in an article published by the British tabloid The Sun. 

On Feb. 18, 2024, The Sun reported news of William’s attendance at the British Academy Film Awards, better known as the BAFTA Film Awards. He has served as the President of BAFTA since 2010.

The Sun’s story was published more than a month before Kate’s cancer diagnosis was made public. We have bolded the four words “my wife it’s been” below:

And after waving to crowds along the red carpet, William made a joke about her health.

He admitted he hadn’t seen many of the nominated movies as he’d been busy at home following his wife’s operation.

The royal said: “I’ve done the fewest I’ve ever done before.”

“With my wife it’s been a bit . . . hopefully, we’ll catch up. I’ll make my list tonight.”

Wills said he’d made the last-minute call to head along to the awards while Kate rested at home.

In other words, the four words were part of an outdated quote about how William had been unable to watch many of the films nominated for awards, due to Kate’s health. There was no fresh news about the royal family pertaining to William and Kate. There were, however, plenty of misleading, false, scammy and outdated Facebook posts to go around, as usual.