REBECCA ENGLISH: What William really thinks about the Kate conspiracy theories. And why it’s been so heartbreaking for him to see her reputation trashed in the same way as Diana’s

There are times when you are in public life that you have to roll with the punches, however unfair they may seem.

But after the past few weeks, any right-minded person has to seriously ask themselves how many blows the Prince of Wales (and, of course, the Princess) should be expected to take?

The King’s cancer diagnosis, his wife’s own surgery, vile social media speculation, ‘photo-gate’ and, now, shocking news that members of staff at The London Clinic may have attempted to access Catherine’s private medical records while she was a patient…

All this against the backdrop of a series of devastating losses, beginning with the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in 2021 (always a tower of strength for the princess, to whom he frequently wrote fond letters, as well as William) and then his irreplaceable grandmother and sounding board, Queen Elizabeth, the following year.

Prince William in Sheffield on Tuesday as part of his campaign on homelessness

There has been grief, too – well, at least a form of it – at the devastating defection of Prince Harry, whose almost primeval need to snipe, strike and rile his brother and sister-in-law, to whom he was once so close, has been one of the most devastating sucker punches of them all.

Sure, William’s heart has been hardened and his resolve reaffirmed when it comes to his sibling, particularly after his disloyalty to Catherine in his bile-fest of a memoir, Spare.

But it is important not to underestimate, friends tell me, just how much of a form of bereavement it has been.

Yesterday I was in Sheffield with the future king as he launched the next phase of his five-year Homewards initiative to end the scourge of homelessness in the UK.

It’s something he is indescribably passionate about, having been taken to homeless shelters by his late mother as a young child.

Both he and his staff see it as a ‘legacy project’ in much the same way the environment, organic farming, and interfaith harmony have been for King Charles.

William has felt a form of bereavement over the disloyalty of his brother Prince Harry, pictured with his wife Meghan

It can be a rather strange experience covering members of the Royal Family on royal engagements – being ushered in and out of rooms before they clock you, watching them discreetly from the sidelines, knowing full well they know you are there.

My eyes met William’s once and he gave me a nod of acknowledgement and an almost baleful smile.

The prince was on fantastic form with all he met, engaging, enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgable on the subject.

He wasn’t there to pontificate or show off what he knew (unlike some other royals I could mention). Instead he wanted to listen, learn and convene. ‘What is your lived experience of homelessness? What are the big challenges? What key things do you want me to leave with?’ he repeatedly asked of clients, charities, councils, landlords and leading businessmen he had managed to get round the table.

Apparently he was ‘relentlessly focused’ and ‘fizzing’ with ideas on how to drive forwards his project all the way back home.

But having covered the Royal Family for so long you do get to pick up the signs, and it was clear that William was also a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The Mother’s Day image of the Princess of Wales and her children that launched the ‘photo-gate’ frenzy surrounding Kate and William

I know he is angry, frustrated and, yes, deeply disappointed, at what has transpired over recent weeks. ‘When will it all stop?’ he is said to have asked.

William has worked hard over the years to ring-fence his family and protect them from the worst excesses of public scrutiny.

While he doesn’t have an easy relationship with the British media, he has learnt to work with us professionally – and has, rightly, been afforded unprecedented privacy for a publicly funded national figure.

While the King has little choice but to be seen if he wants to retain the confidence of people as our head of state – and has done so with genuine enthusiasm and good grace – as next line to the throne, the Prince and Princess of Wales had hoped to be graced with a little more latitude.

William has now learnt the hard way that this degree of control does not extend to the sump of social media – let alone foreign publications and even prime-time US television – which are simply not subject to a fraction of the same regulation as news outlets here.

Most worrying for the prince and his team is the way that the worst sniggering excesses of internet trollism have broken through the barrier and appear to now be controlling a particularly spiteful form of public discourse.

There is even a whole, bizarre #whereiskate sub-culture in which clips of video bloggers taking a ‘deep dive’ down the ‘Kate Middleton rabbit hole’ are garnering hundreds of millions of views and spawning crazy – but rampant – theories, including claims she used a body double at the Windsor Farm Shop and this week’s news about her medical records was purposely leaked to deflect from it.

William and Kate pictured leaving Windsor Castle on Monday last week

Five years ago William personally took on the big tech companies with his much vaunted Cyberbullying Taskforce after being deeply affected by cases such as that of teenager Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing disturbing online content.

He eventually disbanded the initiative in disgust after being forced to acknowledge that these new media giants had no interest in cleaning up their act.

The irony that he and his family are now the victims of targeted social media harassment will not be lost on him.

Of course, there have been a few own-goals on the way.

I’ve been clear in my view that Kensington Palace were desperately naive in thinking one of the most famous – and, let us not forget, much-loved – women in the world could disappear from public view for three months and people not talk about it.

Do we have a right to know what’s been wrong with the Princess of Wales? Absolutely not.

But might it not have been prudent to consider a slightly more informative approach in order to fill the vacuum that is now, inevitably, overflowing with rumour, conspiracy and bile?

The trouble is that approach doesn’t come naturally to William – who, insiders fear, will become ‘even more insular’ as a result of his wife’s experience.

And after events of recent days, you can honestly sympathise.

It’s also worth noting that while everyone hopes and prays for the King’s successful recovery (and from what I hear, currently, his spirits are excellent), Charles’s cancer diagnosis is a gnawing reminder for his son and heir of what is coming down the line, possibly faster than he ever feared.

The couple with their children attend church at Sandringham last Christmas Day

That’s a huge burden for William not just as a man, but also a husband and father of three young children, to bear.

For now the prince and his team are not minded to publicly react to what they describe as ‘the madness’, and feel their actions should do the talking.

That said, I’m told they have not entirely ruled out making some kind of public statement in the coming weeks, ahead of Catherine’s return to public duties.

There is much William would like to say.

It has been tough for him to stand by and see his wife’s reputation shredded by the court of public opinion in the way his late mother’s once was.

How he handles the situation moving forwards will surely be a mark of the King he is one day to become.