The princess reportedly looked "happy, relaxed and healthy" with Prince William
Amid widespread speculation over her whereabouts, the Princess of Wales made a low-key appearance at a farm shop about a mile away from her Windsor home, according to witnesses who spoke with the Sun.
Onlookers told the outlet that Princess Kate looked "happy, relaxed and healthy" during a trip to a farm shop with Prince William on Saturday. There are no known pictures or videos of their visit.
"After all the rumours that had been going round I was stunned to see them there," a witness said. "Kate was out shopping with William and she looked happy and she looked well. The kids weren't with them, but it's such a good sign she was healthy enough to pop down to the shops."
The Sun additionally reported that the couple had spent the morning watching their three children -- Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 -- play sports.
The news of Kate's outing comes days after Bazaar.com exclusively reported that the princess is "doing well, all things considered," per a source close to the situation, and had left the house at least three times in the past few weeks. On one of those occasions, she was "smiling, upbeat, and enjoying being out."
Kate was last publicly seen on December 25 during the royal family's traditional walk to Christmas morning service in Sandringham. Then, Kensington Palace announced in mid-January that the princess would not return to public duties until after Easter, or March 31, due to recovery from a "planned abdominal surgery."
Concern over the lack of transparency on Kate's recovery snowballed into full-blown conspiracy theories when the palace released a doctored family photo of Kate and her kids on March 10. Major wire agencies issued a rare kill notification of the portrait, citing evidence of image manipulation, which led the palace to distribute a rare personal apology attributed to Kate.
"[This situation] has caused some stress for the princess, but she tends not to pay attention to online chatter or even the press," a source previously told Bazaar. "I think people forget that this was simply a mother wanting her family to look their best in a photograph that was going to be heavily scrutinized. She was protecting her children."