The man who caught Kate Middleton walking with her husband Prince William on camera for the first time since undergoing abdominal surgery in January is speaking out.
Nelson Silva, 40, was at the Windsor Farm Shop Saturday afternoon when he spotted the royal couple near the bread section. It wasn’t until the woman turned her head that Silva realized he “knew” her.
He ended up standing behind the couple while in the meat section and witnessed them interacting with the staff.
“I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the staff seemed overwhelmed in a nice way. When I went to pay for my produce, the girl at the counter was so shocked she was hardly breathing,” he told The Sun.
“Everyone in there was very excited. It was a really nice atmosphere.”
Silva, who claimed he had no idea “Kate was so much in the news”, then went outside to take a short video for his family in Portugal.
#KateMiddleton seemed to be in good spirits while out and about with #PrinceWilliam Saturday. https://t.co/kLUsfvt3b2 (🎥: TMZ/The Sun) pic.twitter.com/EqbtVojBcw
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 18, 2024
“I started to record as they [Kate and William] walked towards the car park. They just looked very happy and relaxed together,” he said. “William was obviously protective of Kate and I quickly stopped recording because I didn’t want to make them uncomfortable.”
After sharing the clip with his family over WhatsApp, family members couldn’t believe what they saw.
“They were like, ‘Oh god, she’s alive! She hasn’t been seen since last year’. I’m not really into gossip and celebrities, I like to go fishing and to my allotment.”
Middleton’s last public engagement was Christmas Day, just a few short weeks before planned abdominal surgery. At the time Kensington Palace said she wouldn’t return to public duty until Easter.
Rumors about her health and whereabouts quickly began to swirl, even after photos of Middleton surfaced, including a Mother’s Day photo.
It was only after his family members and a colleague brought it up that Silva realized his video could debunk the rumors and conspiracy theories that have been surrounding Middleton for the past several weeks.
“I feel for Kate, after I saw her, it really hit me that, look, these are just two human beings,” he said. “This is a mother who has had an operation and people should not be speaking about her in this manner.”
“The people saying nasty things and jumping on the bandwagon, I think they just want to get likes. It is very sad. I’ve had operations and know what the recovery is like.”
