Princess Kate mocked on 'Daily Show': "Leader of Hamas"

Princess Kate was ridiculed on The Daily Show over her inclusion as a Time Person of the Year finalist alongside winner Donald Trump, while Joe Biden was left out.

Michael Kosta appeared to pretend he did not know who Kate was, suggesting she was the "leader of Hamas."

In fact, she made headlines in 2024 over her health crisis, which saw her have abdominal surgery in January followed by chemotherapy for cancer, starting in late-February.

"Now obviously Donald Trump is the person of the year. At this point, he's basically America's main character," Kosta said.

"So him winning is not surprising. What was surprising were the finalists."

The show then cut to a clip from Today which showed Kate had been shortlisted alongside Kamala Harris, Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Okay, look, no disrespect, but Kate Middleton was a finalist over Joe Biden?" Kosta continued. "Joe Biden is the president of the United States.

"I mean, sure, Kate Middleton is the leader of Hamas, but still, it should be the sitting president as a finalist. But I guess once again, Time has not been kind to Joe Biden."

The joke sparked laughter from the audience while Kate was not the only person Kosta poked fun at: "Also, why did they put Kamala Harris on the list? I know they're trying to pay her some respect, but all they did was just make her lose to Donald Trump again.

"'Kamala, we just entered you in a golf tournament at Mar-a-Lago. Oh, guess you lost again.'"

Kate's inclusion in the list likely dates back to the first few months of the year when she had abdominal surgery and stepped back from royal engagements.

There were initially no post-surgery images, leading to a growing viral trend on X, formerly Twitter, speculating the palace were hiding something and that she was "missing."

By March, there were calls for the palace to publish "proof of life" before a picture was released to mark Mother's Day.

However, it showed signs it had been edited in numerous places, sending the speculation into overdrive with conspiracy theories becoming more and more morbid.

Ultimately, Kate revealed she had been receiving chemotherapy for cancer on March 22, leading to some notable backtracking, including from Stephen Colbert, who had repeated a long standing affair rumor that has previously been denied by the palace.

Kate made her first public appearance of the year in June for King Charles' birthday parade, Trooping the Colour, but is yet to return to full time royal duties.

Her inclusion as a Time finalist may well also be down to the rest of the list being heavily election focused, with Trump, Harris and Musk all part of the campaign and Netanyahu the only figure not connected.

Needless to say, even Kate would no doubt rather her inclusion had been down to something more positive than a health crisis and a viral social media storm.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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