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U.K. authorities probe possible Princess Kate medical record breach as royals slog through photo scandal
London — A video clip of Catherine, the Princess of Wales, shopping with her husband Prince William, emerged this week but has failed to quash speculation about Kate’s health. Interest is so high, it would seem, that it may have led a London clinic worker to break the law in an effort to obtain Kate’s personal medical information.
A British newspaper reported Wednesday that at least one person had tried to access Kate’s medical records at the private, upmarket London Clinic, where she underwent unspecified abdominal surgery in January.
A government watchdog agency, the Information Commissioner’s Office, confirmed that it had “received a breach report” and was in the process of “assessing the information provided.”
In a statement sent to CBS News, the London Clinic’s CEO Al Russell said all of the facility’s staff were “acutely aware of our individual, professional, ethical and legal duties with regards to patient confidentiality. We take enormous pride in the outstanding care and discretion we aim to deliver for all our patients that put their trust in us every day.”
Russell said the London Clinic had “systems in place to monitor management of patient information and, in the case of any breach, all appropriate investigatory, regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken,” adding: “There is no place at our hospital for those who intentionally breach the trust of any of our patients or colleagues.”
British health minister Maria Caulfield told the Sky News television network that London police had “been asked to look at” whether any clinic staff members had, in fact, attempted to access Kate’s private medical records.
Caulfield said in a separate interview with the LBC radio network that the information commissioner’s office could also lead prosecutions, and added that there were “particularly hefty implications if you are looking at notes for medical records that you should not be looking at.”
Kensington Palace said from the beginning that it would not be providing updates on Kate’s recovery from her surgery, offering only that she’s expected to return to her royal duties after Easter.
But after the palace said it would provide no updates, interest soared when the princess was shown in a British Mother’s Day image with her three children. Several leading global photo agencies recalled the picture after noticing some inconsistencies.
That prompted the palace to release an apology, credited to Kate, who said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
The acknowledgement led to scrutiny of other images presented to the public by Kate and William and, this week, a second one, initially shared by the royals in 2023, fell under suspicion. The image depicting a warm family moment with the late Queen Elizabeth II, surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, was said to have been snapped at the royals’ Balmoral Castle retreat in Scotland, in August 2022.
But CBS News and many other outlets found discrepancies in that image, too, including misalignments on patterns in the late queen’s tartan skirt and the sofa they were all sat on, and some black or blurry patches around some of the children’s heads.
Getty Images added a note on the photo in its server, labelling it as “digitally enhance at source.”
The Princess of Wales’ father-in-law King Charles III is still largely out of the public eye as he undergoes cancer treatment, but the rest of the senior royals have tried to maintain business as usual. That includes Prince William, who visited a homeless project in the north of England on Tuesday.
On London’s streets, meanwhile, most people who spoke to CBS News seemed to sympathize with Kate and her family’s appeal for privacy.
“I think they need to leave her alone – I think her health is her own business,” said Londoner Paul Hunt.
“I think she gets a lot of stick, and everyone should just leave her alone. If she’s been poorly, then she’s been poorly,” said Sally Cannon as she made her way to work.
“We need to respect that she’s a human being as well as part of the monarchy,” said another resident, Michelle Hanafi.
Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
Jon Gambrell / AP
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE.
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment.
Early Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”
“Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan’s disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and said that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.
Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut down Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
Hyundai and Kia are recalling more than 208,000 electric vehicles to fix a problem that can cause the loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.
The recall covers more than 145,000 Hyundai and Genesis including some IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 EVs along with Genesis GV60, Genesis GV70 and Genesis G80 models.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the vehicles’ transistors in a charging control unit may get damaged and stop charging the 12-volt battery, “which can result in a loss of drive power.”
In the Kia recall, nearly 63,000 EV6 vehicles from 2022 through 2024 are impacted.
Car dealers will inspect and replace the control unit and a fuse if needed, as well as update software. Owners whose vehicles were recalled earlier this year to fix the same problem will have to visit their dealer again.
Owners will be notified by letter in December and January.
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