First, the world badgered the Royal Family into disclosing the condition of the Princess of Wales, who hadn’t made many public appearances for months. Her last public appearance until her recent video revealing her health status was on Christmas Day 2023. Some late-night television hosts joked about why Kate wasn’t in the public eye—for all the liberal whining about conspiracy theory peddling, these quips, which some could argue were quite tasteless, fanned the flames of the baseless rumors about the future queen. As it turns out, Princess Catherine underwent a surgical procedure in her abdomen in January, which later led to a cancer diagnosis.
I like a good conspiracy theory, especially if it involves body doubles. I’ve joked that Joe Biden might have one, but I never veered into the martial aspects like Stephen Colbert did. Yet, as it turned out, the princess does have a body double of sorts. It’s not royally sanctioned, nor is this individual part of any plot. But The New York Times, which has a lot of time on its hands, found a woman who bears such an uncanny resemblance to the royal she was paid to appear at events. So, there is no body double conspiracy surrounding Princess Catherine. Still, a woman was going around as her, getting paid, and this story has all the makings of a female version of the film Dave, albeit involving the UK Royal Family (via NYT):
Heidi Agan is not Catherine, Princess of Wales. She has never met Catherine, formerly known as Kate Middleton. She has never been contacted by Kensington Palace, nor is she secretly working with the royal family as part of a cover-up devised to hide the princess from public view.
Ms. Agan is, however, a slender 43-year-old British brunette whose visage bears a resemblance to Catherine’s.
She’s turned looking like one of the most famous women in the world into a job, performing at parties and events as a look-alike for hire. Recently, Ms. Agan has found herself at the center of an international news cycle as rumors swirl about Catherine’s whereabouts following a previously announced surgery earlier this year. When Catherine was said to be caught on camera earlier this month, skeptics were quick to claim that the person in the video was not the absentee royal, but rather a doppelgänger — and some suspected it was Ms. Agan.
[…]
How did you become a Catherine impersonator?
It was 12 years ago. I was working as a waitress, and everybody just kept saying how much I looked like her. It was around the time of the wedding. I didn’t even think look-alikes were real or that you could make money doing it. Eventually, I sent my picture off to a few agents and I got my first job a week later. I quit waitressing.
Is this a full-time job for you?
It was. The pandemic killed everything off, and the entertainment industry, I think, has struggled to recover. I work at the head of a dance and musical theater school now, as well.
Do you have a different persona when you are performing as Catherine? How do you act?
As look-alikes, we study the royals quite a lot — the finer details, I suppose, that nobody else would really care about, even down to a perfume she wears.
[…]
Have you been harassed online?
I’m getting a lot of messages from people going, “That was you, wasn’t it?” When I say no, they go, “But you’re being paid to be here in this situation to fool us.” Some of the comments are quite vile, but it’s something that I’ve learned to accept. It’s part and parcel of this job.
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So, while not an intentional source of kindling for the conspiracy theory fire, some people get paid doing this stuff, which is wild.
Cancer diagnoses are devastating, no matter what class. Wishing nothing but a speedy recovery for Princess Catherine and the rest of the Royal Family.
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