A Royal MESS

BETWEEN MULTIPLE HEALTH CRISES, POWER STRUGGLES AND FRESH SCANDALS, THE MONARCHY IS IN COMPLETE CHAOS.

ON March 4, Princess Kate was spotted on the passenger side of a car with her mother, Carole Middleton, driving near Windsor Castle. It was the first sighting of the Princess of Wales in 70 days. In photos, the 42-year-old who underwent planned abdominal surgery at the posh London Clinic Jan. 16-can be seen wearing dark sunglasses and a slight smile.

The public outing was perhaps meant to quiet the growing concern for Kate's well-being. But it did little to quell ongoing worries surrounding the royal family, which has dealt with crisis after crisis in recent months. On Feb. 5, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles III had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer and would be seeking treatment, but offered few other details about his health. All this comes amid the ongoing rift between the royals and rogue Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle. "There's not a lot of transparency right now," a palace source tells Star. "The lack of information about Kate's and Charles' conditions is causing even more confusion."

With the 75-year-old monarch and his daughter-in-law both sidelined, there aren't enough senior royals to handle the load. And Prince William, 41, is now cracking under the pressure. "The monarchy," says the source, "is in turmoil."

POWER VACUUM

It's become painfully unclear who's in charge. After filling in for her ailing husband at 13 official engagements, Queen Camilla, 76, took a weeklong holiday in early March to recover from pulling double duty. Then on Feb. 27, a usually reliable William unexpectedly pulled out of a memorial service for his godfather, the late King Constantine of Greece, to attend to "a personal matter."