Kate Middleton has surfaced for the first time since her mysterious abdominal surgery earlier this year. It sidelined her for good. She’s maintaining a low profile, or trying to anyway.

The Princess of Wales was seen travelling as a passenger Monday in a vehicle that was being driven by her mother, Carole, near Windsor Castle in the UK, and as we said, this appearance is a big deal considering we haven’t seen her whatsoever since December.

Her first appearance

Kate was wearing shades and appeared to be rocking somewhat of a smile. However, there didn’t appear to be any other relatives with them for this trip, and ditto for security.

Intriguingly, she’s popping up like this right now. Frankly, the internet has been abuzz with rumours these past couple of weeks over her whereabouts, and there thereover a lot of jokes made at her expense.

Curious about her whereabouts

The point is, though, that people have been wondering where the heck she was. How is she doing? Her condition, which she has been dealing with, has been kept under tight wraps. Why did royal officials only reveal that she underwent abdominal surgery and nothing else? (Read More: The Princess of Wales, ‘Kate Middleton’ Hospitalized Due To Abdominal Surgery)

Buckingham Palace only stated at the time that she would remain hospitalized for about 2 weeks, and after that, she wouldn’t be able to continue her duties until about Easter time. They also reassured the public that she was making progress in her recovery. They reiterated this last week when they finally responded to all the viral conjecture going on.

Was the Princess of Wales in a Coma?

Journalist Concha Calleja erroneously claimed on the Spanish news show ‘Fiesta’ that Middleton had to be put in an induced coma during her recovery period due to difficulties after Kate discreetly underwent her scheduled surgery last month. (Read More: ‘Princess Of Wales’ Kate Middleton In Coma? What Royal Palace Says)

But, a royal insider refuted the rumours, telling people that they were “total nonsense.” “No attempt was made by that journalist to do anything that she said with anyone in the household,” the insider revealed. “It’s fundamentally, totally made-up, and I’ll use polite English here: it’s not the case.”