British talk show host John Oliver has sparked outrage after he made a sick joke about the Princess of Wales, saying she “could have died 18 months ago.”
The Last Week Tonight host made the comments on Tuesday night during an appearance on US network Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live – despite the princess being spotted just days ago.
“There is zero chance that she died eighteen months ago,” the British comedian said on his show.
“Maybe in this situation they’re ‘Weekend at Bernie,’” Oliver added, referring to the 1989 film.
Responding to Let the woman recover in peace.”
Another said: ‘Kate allowed some privacy.’
It is not the first time that Oliver has made sharp comments about the royal family. In 2018, he called them “fundamentally flawed” and “emotionally stunted” as he urged Meghan Markle not to marry into the family.
British chat show host John Oliver has sparked outrage after he made a sick joke about the Princess of Wales, saying she ‘could have died 18 months ago’
Prince William leaves Windsor for Westminster Abbey on Monday with his wife, the Princess of Wales, by his side
Oliver continued his latest skit alongside Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen, who noted the royal family’s motto: “Never Complain, Never Leg.”
“I’m not saying it happened, but I am saying it’s not zero until proven otherwise. Until we see her sitting there with a copy of that day’s newspaper,” Oliver said.
Oliver added that he had ignored the speculation about Kate until “the Photoshop thing,” a reference to the furor over the release of an edited Mother’s Day family photo.
“It feels like you’re almost impressively handling it badly at this point,” the HBO star claimed.
Oliver made his comments on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show in 2018.
When asked if he would like to watch Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding, Colbert said, “I wouldn’t blame her if she backed out of this at the last minute.”
“I don’t think you need to have just seen the pilot episode of The Crown to get an idea of… that she might be marrying into a family, which could cause her emotional complications.”
When Colbert said the current royals “seem like nice people,” Oliver added, “Yeah… I mean, they’re an emotionally stunted group of fundamentally flawed people doing a very silly pseudo job.” That’s what she’s marrying.”
The mother-of-three was not expected to be seen in public until after Easter after undergoing abdominal surgery and spending two weeks in a private hospital in London in January.
However, she was photographed with Prince William on Monday as they left Windsor Castle together.
Kate was also seen on March 4 in the passenger seat of a 4×4 Audi that her mother Carole Middleton was driving near Windsor Castle.
It came as Kensington Palace came under increasing pressure to release the original Mother’s Day photo.
The Princess of Wales apologized this week for the confusion, saying she edited the family portrait of herself sitting with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Experts told MailOnline that it was modified using Photoshop and related AI tools.
The world’s biggest photo agencies later ‘killed’ the photo after noticing signs of digital editing, including a missing section of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her wrist and skirt, and the placement of Kate’s zipper.
The Princess of Wales apologized on social media. She said: ‘Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone who celebrated had a very happy Mother’s Day.’
She signed it ‘C’ – for Catherine.
PR experts have described the Mother’s Day photo fiasco as a “major own goal” and have urged royal officials to release the unedited photo in a bid to regain public trust.
The world’s top photo agencies – including the Press Association – ‘killed’ the image, saying it had been digitally manipulated.
Several well-placed sources in royal circles have told the Mail that Kate and her team have found the public fallout from the ‘edited’ photo very ‘disturbing’.
Several well-placed sources in royal circles have told the Mail that Kate and her team have found the public fallout from the ‘edited’ photo very ‘disturbing’. Above: Kate went to church at Sandringham on Christmas Day last year
They said: ‘Everyone, including the princess, is a bit shocked by what happened.
‘A mistake was made, but she raised her hand and apologised. It’s been very disturbing all around.
William and Kate often pay personal tributes on Mother’s Day, but it was also hoped that a new image of the princess – the first since she was spotted on Christmas Day – would put to bed vicious rumors on social media about her condition.
Kensington Palace has not deviated from its initial announcement in January that the future queen had undergone ‘planned abdominal surgery’ and, although she was recovering well, it was unlikely she would be able to resume her official duties until after Easter.