The collective silence around the Princess of Wales’s non-attendance at the Buckingham Palace diplomatic reception is so telling, right? When the Duchess of Sussex wore a red dress at a charity gala in LA, the Mail was screaming, crying and throwing up about it for WEEKS. But Kate skips the diplomatic reception – a “tiara event” which she has attended for years – and there’s nothing in the Mail, the Telegraph, the Times or anything else. Not even a Mail commentator saying “poor Kate, she clearly didn’t feel well enough, she’s such a stellar future queen!” Instead, the official excuse was that Kate is busy with the preparations for her stupid Christmas-carol show, which is weeks away. I’m surprised they didn’t use this as an excuse though – Kate apparently added a “private meeting” at Windsor Castle to her schedule today.
Princess Kate carried out an important engagement at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, meeting with her Early Years team.
The visit, recorded in the Court Circular, demonstrated Princess Kate’s ongoing commitment to early childhood development.
The mother-of-three has made early years development a cornerstone of her public work, establishing the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in June 2021 alongside Prince William.
Do you get the sense that there’s a real disagreement and ongoing negotiations around What To Do About Kate these days? She told the world that she was “cancer free” and that her course of chemotherapy was over. She made that hilarious video. Kensington Palace followed up by heavily emphasizing that she would not be “back to work” in any sense for months. They keep pushing back the date for when Kate will “go back to work.” They benched her from the diplomatic reception, and now she’s making a point of adding some Early Years busywork to the Court Circular at the last minute. One thing is clear… Charles, Camilla and William don’t actually want Kate around. Kate is fine with that up to a point… the point where she doesn’t get to wear a tiara, apparently.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- HRH King Charles III, Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Prince of Wales receive President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol during the state visit ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade in London, UK, 21 November 2023,Image: 823417682, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- HRH King Charles III, Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Prince of Wales receive President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol during the state visit ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade in London, UK, 21 November 2023,Image: 823429774, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- HRH King Charles III, Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Prince of Wales receive President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol during the state visit ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade in London, UK, 21 November 2023,Image: 823453996, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. THE IMAGE SHALL NOT BE USED AFTER 0001hrs, TUESDAY 26th DECEMBER. After that date, no further licensing can be made, please remove from your systems and contact Getty Images for any usage) (L-R) Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales pose for a photograph ahead of The Diplomatic Reception in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace on December 05, 2023 in London, England.,Image: 827170357, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales at an evening reception for members of the Diplomatic Corps at Buckingham Palace in London. Picture date: Tuesday December 5, 2023,Image: 827170361, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jonathan Brady / Avalon
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – The Queen’s Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace, London, UK, on the 11th December 2019. Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 11 DECEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – The Queen’s Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace, London, UK, on the 11th December 2019. Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 11 DECEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Diplomatic Corps Reception At Buckingham Palace Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 06 Dec 2022 Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales leave Buckingham Palace, central London, on day one of the President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the UK. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales and William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Such a farce. She is no expert on early childhood. She just pretends she is.
That’s true it is a farce this is just a don’t forget me I’m here (when I want attention) I’m so very mad about not getting to wear a tiara and jewels so I popped out for a photo op at the expense of early years.
Exactly. After all, that’s what charities are for — to be exploited when needed. I don’t know, I just got a vision of Kate doing a Glenn Close impression: “I will NOT be ignored.”
Nor was that an ‘important engagement’. Whatever it was–most likely a bog-standard meeting–it will have advanced nothing, contributed nothing, and likely made no impact on Kate or anyone else. Kate & William are the very definition of goldbrickers.
I fully believe these are figments of Kate’s imagination. Haven’t all of her “private meetings” in the year of our lady of perpetual absence been attributed to early years? They are all she has done, other than the times she’s been seen that we can count on our fingers.
Is she trying to make the point she didn’t make the dinner because of this, and not a carol concert that was planned by other people months ago?
A last minute ‘secret’ meeting with an early years expert is more than likely what she calls a visit from her sister these days…you know the one with the ACTUAL QUALIFICATIONS in early years!!!!
@Gill, why did the same thought go through my head 😂
I bet this last-minute meeting was a Christmas lunch for early-year team. This was not work. It was also probably not organized. It was probably a last-minute thing to make sure somebody was going to talk about her after her no-show at the dinner. Looks like she’s not allowed anywhere near officials to make sure she wouldn’t be talking nonsense. And she’s not allowed nowhere near the top royals for important official events.
I think anything pertaining to Kate is William’s choice or decision,I dont think C and C care either way but I think William dangles what Kate can and cant attend at this point.
Hmm i would say that Camilla does care. She doesn’t like to be overshadowed. I still think that the whole no tiara thing at the coronation was her idea just so that she would stand out more. Kitty pulled a fast one on her with that one though.
That is right @Chloe about Kate pulling a fast one and I think she is still paying for it! 😁
Haha, MAYP, you could be onto something. Camilla is totally petty enough to refuse to let Kate wear a tiara as the longest fake tiara grudge ever.
oooo. This makes sense! Was the fake tiara @ the Clown Show Coronation the last (non-tiara-tiara) tiara event for Kate? Is this Cams first appearance since recovering from her “chest infection”… she didn’t want Kate to pull focus OR wear a tiara…a double slap down for K?!
So it seems that she’s still struggle (I suspect mentally) and this reshuffles what she can and cannot do. Because it makes no sense as to why she can’t just visit shelters, hospitals, theaters, schools and cut ribbons and shit.
Shady shit over on Shutter Island…shady shit.
I think they want to avoid any events where she has to engage in small talk in ways that cannot be carefully controlled. That small talk with the wrong person might lead to some information being dropped or the truth being figured out. All of her events have been from afar and carefully stage managed.
Or she’s not capable anymore for small talk..food for thought…
I vote for incapable of small talk any more. Did she talk to anyone at Wimbledon this last time? Usually they show her being escorted to her seat & there’s a bit of chit-chat. I don’t recall that this time.
BeanieBean, there was a mini video from her last engagement with William and she didn’t make sense….
“Or she’s not capable anymore”
This has been a theory I am inclined to believe, particularly with that scar suggesting such a strange spiderweb looking configuration around her eye.
A head injury, mental illness or combination of both contributing to an inability on Catherine’s part to interact at close quarters. She was never a strong public speaker and often awkward seeming at some public events but post KateGate the need to pretend she is conducting her duties without actually hearing from her has become a very obvious priority for the BRF and BM henchpeople, alongside hiding whatever is happening in the WanK marriage.
The reportage that Adelaide or property nearby had to be renovated for her recovery, the weird insistence that she be seen as bedridden in the beginning -against contemporary medical practices and advice – in the beginning hint that there was something going on in that vein.
She made a small talk with the winner at Wimbledon in front of the cameras and a lot of people. She looked and sounded fine. Although she wanted to introduce Pippa to the winner, the guy had enough and moved on, so she looked awkward for a second. I don’t think there is anything wrong with her mentally.
I would buy that if they hadn’t used the stupid planning the Christmas carol event excuse.
They’ve been using “prioritizing her family/children” almost exclusively. The new excuse is so bitchy, it feels intentional.
@christine I agree. They could have said “health reasons” and everyone would have assumed it related to the cancer/chemotherapy (which some might question but the press would go along with it.) This was very deliberately not that excuse.
I have always thought there was something cognitive going on–either a stroke or some extreme MH crisis, something along those lines. A 90 year old lady didn’t want to be seen with a cane so we know how ableist this family is. There’s no way they would risk any whispers about Kate experiencing something like that. In addition there are complicating factors (marriage, physical health) at play.
I’m someone who has always been skeptical about the concha calleja tip about the stroke. I felt like it was a red herring amidst so much disinformation. But at the end of the day, I have no idea. I think Kate is good if she can go to Wimbledon and talk to the winner in front of cameras. But I feel like regardless of anything she’s had a rough year and might struggle with extended small talk. Not saying she did it well before but I came see how the RF might have concerns after the year she has had. Not saying she is incapacitated but that she is struggling.
This makes sense. Although she did go to Wimbledon, it’s interesting that Pippa went with her. It didn’t look like she interacted much with anyone other than her sister. This after Pippa not being seen with her for a long time.
There was video from that Wimbledon outing as well but it was still an extremely controlled appearance with a firewall between the live attendees and edited for public consumption to show her interactions in a mute reportage and her face was ‘built up’ with cosmetic aid to a suspicious degree.
@Interested Gawker, there was a video where she was clearly talking to the winner and she doesn’t look any different from before. There is no “built up” face if you look at the video. They edit her photos heavily, but the videos are clear. She didn’t change or get some obvious cosmetic work.
What has she actually achieved over the last few years with this piece of ‘work?’ What benefits are ordinary children actually getting from it?
Nothing and none to answer your questions.
Imagine if every hour long work meeting you attended was trumpeted as “carrying out an engagement.” Just wild. No one but Kate gets away with that.
The only time I list meetings at my year-end list of accomplishments is when I’m irritated I was required to be in so many stupid meetings that a lot of my other work didn’t get done.
Not just an engagement, but its being treated like a day of work!
Meanwhile Charles spent yesterday meeting ambassadors during the day plus the reception at night and he’s the one actively going through chemo!
I wonder if she brought a pen and a notebook to doodle in, I mean, take NOTES in. V.v. important notes.
Something is definitely off and has been for a long time.. I don’t think anyone buys that the early years thing is anything more than a prop for rota narratives at this point either.
Huh. Okay, I got confused. I saw something in the CC and assumed it was for the Christmas Carole work that they said she was doing instead of attending the tiara event. But this is early years work and the day after. So is this meant to show that she’s too busy working to go to the tiara event? Or is it to show Charles and Camilla that’s she’s willing to do some work if they’ll just let her attend the next tiara event? Messy.
‘Christmas Carole work’
Bravo.
That really is well done, I am calling it this forever.
The meeting was yesterday, it just got added today to the CC.
I think its interesting bc the story was that she was missing the reception bc she was busying working on her christmas concert. But then they just have a meeting at Windsor for the Early Years where we all know Kate doesn’t do anything besides show up with her notebook (helpfully labeled “notebook”) and jazz hands her way through a meeting while the experts try to get something done.
Like I can think of half a dozen more plausible reasons for Kate missing last night, including recovering from chemo, doctors recommendations, cancer, major event at children’s school, just…..almost anything.
But instead its this??
“helpfully labeled “notebook””
The way I just laughed reading this line was so unseemly 😂
I wonder if the purpose of meeting with her Team was to let them all go, and at long last dismantle the Early Years charade.
@Interested Gawker; There is a photo of Kate with a notebook labeled (helpfully), NOTEBOOK. I think it was when she was late for the Queen of Sweden or was it an early years thing?
“Christmas Carole work”
😂😂😂
The reason given is weak for sure. At least it’s giving the impression of her doing work, and for people not paying attention, maybe that’s enough. Bc it’s hard to say she can’t go to the event due to health concerns anymore. Not after that video. So this is something? I mean they could have said she chose to stay home with the kids but that would’ve been weak too bc presumably she is with them every night. So they’re kind of in a hard place as far explaining absences.
Also, the Christmas Carole Work was a misspell😂. But clearly a good one.
This is why I disagree with people who think Kate won this war and that she is happy being on the sidelines. Kate and Ma Middleton are way more thirsty than the Kardashian klan. She loves attention and dresses like Diana, the late queen, and dos. She was indeed benched and things like this will happen more often. Each side will throw the other under the bus, all we have to do is buy popcorn and watch the crash show.
As of January I thought she was benched, then I thought well maybe its the other way around and she’s calling the shots now, and now I am back to she was benched. Her parents were allowed at Ascot because the royals didn’t really care if they were there.
Unless there is a significant mental health component here that they are trying to hide (i.e. there’s a reason Kate cannot mingle with diplomats and make small talk for 3 hours)*, I think this is a very clear signal that she is going to be MIA more and more. The past year was like a trial balloon IMO – lets see how much the public misses Kate. And as it turns out, after the “where is Kate” mystery was sort of resolved….the public can get by just fine without her.
I also wonder if the Wimbledon appearance (and the standing ovation) and then the cancer-free video pissed off some in the royal households.
*I know Kate is probably very awkward to talk to at those events, but that’s been the case for over a decade and she’s always gone. So I think there is something else going on here. She didn’t stay home because she knew she was outclassed.
The Middletons were also seen before Kate was so it was likely a way to control the kate is doing poorly stuff since no one assumes her parents would be at Ascot if she was that ill.
And they will milk the “she had cancer you know” until the end of time.
Unless the BRF and William decide to out the duplicity and lay it all in the Middleton’s lap. That would get William his divorce for certain if he insisted he was misled by their scam, even if he did give Carole kompromat in his behaviour towards Kate.
The other issue with the idea that the Middletons have kompromat or whatever on William is that it doesn’t matter if that damaging information doesn’t get anywhere. Like we saw how the british press didn’t use the Kate car pic presumably bc KP asked them not to.
do people think that Carole and Kate can run to the DM with a story of emotional or physical abuse re: the future king and it will get published?
Its only damaging information if it gets out and I could see the palaces shutting down all outlets on any such story. Whatever narrative William wants out there re: a divorce will be the narrative that controls.
Oh how I missed the Airrly Yarrs!
Will we get more pie charts, or another 5 Big Questions? Or how about part deux of that spooky AI claymation jump scare?
I’m sure the experts without expertise will promptly come up with another creative, well-meaning but badly executed, waste of taxpayer money.
Listen, I did not miss Aarly yarrs 😂. I’d be happy to just see them donate money to real early years experts and orgs and move on. If one positive thing to come out of this past year is that Kate ends up doing more bread and butter type stuff instead of a long drawn out campaign of embiggening then that would not be terrible. Bc it is such an incredible waste of money imo.
I cannot see the words’ early years’ in any of these stories without hearing them as ‘aarly yarrs’.
I was coming to type AARLLY YAAARS also! Ha!
Joking aside, all of this is very very strange….
The early years page on the royal.uk website talks about she did blah blah… in 2020.
In spring 2023 “she” launched a new “long-term” campaign “Shaping Us”, with a national symposium bringing together “for the first time” (!) “child and adult specialists” (what is an adult specialist?), “cross-disciplinary leaders” (of what?), and “global thinkers” (akin to… global statesmen, perhaps?). Haven’t heard a word about it since. Anyone else who performed so ineffectively at their job would have long been sent to the curb. And they’d have to leave the tiaras behind. That is some smoke they’re blowing… I’d be quite fed up if I were a UK taxpayer.
(P.S. Katie, the youngsters of England don’t need your Powerpoints. Food and heat. Try food and heat…)
Maybe buttons mutton should call her up fellow bench bestie sophie no one cares if she is there or not and cry about how this is all Meghan and her youthful self fault.
It’s almost like she’s being held hostage. I don’t know if its Slumlord Bill doing this but I suspect it’s coming more from KFC and Horseface. I think it’s a quid pro quo situation — she keeps schtum about what Slumlord did to her and gets to do a minimal amount of work but no tiara events where she actually interacts with people. This is the Faustian bargain whereby she gets AC, stays married and gets the crown while Slumlord does whatever he wants. Must protect the heir at all costs. What a horrible life.
Wow. That is a grim scenario.
I don’t know. That pic with Chuck, Cams and Wills looked intentional to me. The space next to Wills could have had a circle drawn around it. As if they’re saying, “to be filled in later.”
There is a reason why Diana didn’t want that deal.
This is kind of where I wind up as well. As people above pointed out, someone was quite bitchy when they said that Kate would not be able to make it because she was too busy with her Christmas Carole event. It’s not a believable excuse. It didn’t come from K or have her best interests at heart.
She’s useful as the best grabber of headlines the royals have at the moment, but has next to no way of fighting back if someone accuses her of prioritizing a concert. This Early Years might have been the only eay she could counter that story. It seems clear that she’s been isolated from her favorite RR reporters.
KC, Camz, and Egg all hate when she’s more popular and pulls focus, it’s the question which of those three went after her instead of being satisfied she couldn’t make it.
There is one article today in The Independent about the Buckingham Palace diplomatic reception and it mentioned the non-attendance of Waity. Yesterday evening The Mail Online reported the same story but by the early hours of this morning, that article had vanished. Kaiser is right that no other UK newspapers are reporting on it. Has BP ordered the articles to be pulled because they are afraid to draw attention to the fact that Kate is missing again? Very strange.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/style/king-charles-queen-camilla-and-prince-william-welcome-diplomats-to-glittering-palace-reception/ar-AA1uo80T?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=798c502181324469bb7a1ad170d16dc1&ei=17
Barf. ‘Family orders are a sign of the importance of the wearer’. THEY ARE NOT, YOU SYCOPHANTIC NINNIES!
If the press isn’t discussing her absence it seems to me that its because they hope people don’t notice. Hmmm.
It is as obvious as how no UK media mentioned how kate didn’t have her signature on the wreath. This is intentional.
If they’re pulling an article, which not only mentions her absence, but also that she was too busy with a Christmas concert… did someone expect her to be there?
Is this a power struggle between W and his dad?
Obviously, she was missing, and it’s weird that reporting her absence is a no-go, right? Why is that an issue? Who doesn’t want the attention: pretty much KC or W are the only ones who could have that article disappeared.
@Nic919 – Yes, I think it is intentional.
The bitchy comment about the Christmas concert…out of CRex, Camzilla and Huevo, I’d attribute that first to Camz and if not her, then Egg. When were Camzilla and Hueso last seen together?
Karen is being phased out slowly.
It’s amusing to see those pictures of Kate’s Little Red Flashing Hood outfit again. I had almost forgotten just how much thigh she was flashing.
@Beverley – I don’t think anyone can forget the sight of that! It sent a message loud and clear, and not in a good way.
Kate was so notorious for her own flashing incidents it finally only just now occurred to me she might have been trying to KopyKeen Meghan alighting from a van in New York in a high slit white dress.
I have never seen her look more ridiculous than in that way overdone outfit. The Korean First Lady looked embarrassed.
In addition to The Mail Online publishing an article yesterday evening about the Buckingham Palace diplomatic reception which said Kate would not be attending due to being “otherwise engaged” in planning her Christmas Carol concert, the fawning dross described William as looking “rugged”. It nearly made me puke to be honest. KCIII looked ridiculous in his old-fashioned breeches and Camzilla looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but the Mail Online made sure the public knew she was wearing an aquamarine and diamond tiara from QEII’s collection as well as her own (!) aquamarine and diamond necklace and earrings. There were the usual fawning comments underneath the article, but nobody was questioning Waity’s absence. Anyway, the article was pulled in the early hours of this morning. It is becoming so obvious that Kate is out of favour with the BRF.
Oh, I’m pretty sure that was Becky English calling that man rugged. I genuinely wonder if she does have a crush or if it’s just sycophancy.
A 24 million dollar iceberg basement extension was put below Kensington palace so that William and Kate could have more room in the rooms that the royal collection trust rented from the Palace. Finished in 2020, obsolete by 2022 when Kate and William just up and moved to Windsor, where this meeting was held. Truly the KP offices must be empty.
All this complaining and explaining is just raising suspicions again about Kate. The Early Years meeting could have been done during the day hours along with the Christmas concert planning. Kate is being phased out.
Here we go again – it really seems like the left hand doesn’t know/ doesn’t care what the right hand is doing when it comes to palace comms. Yesterday, Kate was still recovering and not expected to attend the gala, but focusing on her Christmas concert. That was ( I think) the BP party line – she needed to, I dunno, practice her piano piece or how to hang an ornament on the tree. Whatever. But now, as the photos of Charles, Camilla and William in their ridiculous finery have come out, someone in Kate’s camp thought it was important for everyone to know that she wasn’t actually preparing for her Christmas concert at all! No, she was on an “important” call about the early years. I don’t think it will be lost on C and C that this little stunt has put Kate in the papers (even in a small way) when they had counted on all of the headlines for themselves! I know – it’s petty and small to imagine that the literal monarch would give a crap about some small mention of his daughter in law, so long as his photos still get top placement! But we know he does care – deeply – if anyone steps on his coverage in any way.
Anyone remember when Kate did exactly this during Chuck’s “first garden party” as king? She knew exactly what she was doing then, and Charles and his courtiers made sure that the press reported that it was a breach in protocol.
This was such a fun watch. Love how Harry goes all out to promote Invictus and how he’s such a good sport. He just has a way of being at ease with all types of people. Don’t know much about Jelly Roll but saw a good interview with him on 60minutes. Was joking with my husband that Prince Harry is way more qualified to be Secretary of Defense than 47s current nominee. Anyway, looking forward to catching Invictus. One positive thing to start 2025 with.
Ooooh, girlfriend was def benched from the glitzy diplomatic reception and this ‘meeting’ is a passive aggressive way to draw attention from it to her – she and Ma are back to their old PR stunts to pull attention onto Princess of Keen Busywork.
Whatever leverage she and Ma think they had over him/RF is going down the lav and it started with the ‘pre cancerous’ cells comment. It took KP too long to get it ‘corrected’ and the damage is done as she got dragged for it. People are do know the different between cancerous and pre-cancerous cells. The ‘she had cancer’ story is becoming full of holes.
I don’t think they wanted Kate to have to answer even polite questions about her illness, because they never got the story straight.
Diplomats can elicit information without even appearing to be trying.
This was my thought
Her absence could be easily explainable. Instead of making up a story why Not the truth? Chemo fatigue is a real thing; my neighbor lady, a full year after chemo, had bouts of fatigue so intense she spent the day on the sofa.