'I Do Not Make Light of Somebody Else's Tragedy': Stephen Colbert Apologies After Fueling Kate Middleton Conspiracy Theories

Stephen Colbert apologized to Kate Middleton during the Monday, March 25, episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — just a few days after the princess revealed she's battling cancer.

The talk show host, 59, added fuel to the fire when he brought up Prince William allegedly having an affair with Rose Hanbury prior to Kate's shocking diagnosis.

“You know, folks, I don’t know if you have noticed, but we do a lot of shows and I tell a lot of jokes, and I tell jokes about a lot of different things, mostly what everybody’s talking about," he began. "And for the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton’s disappearance from public life. And two weeks ago, we did some jokes about that mystery and all of the reporting about that. And when I made those jokes, that upset some people and — even before her diagnosis was revealed, and I can understand that. I mean, a lot of my jokes have upset people in the past. And I’m sure some of my jokes will upset people in the future. But there is a standard that I try to hold myself to. And that is, I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy."

He continued, "Now, I don’t know whether her prognosis is a tragic one, she is the future Queen of England and I assume she’s going to be be getting the best possible medical care, but regardless of what it is, I know and I’m sure many of you, far too many of us know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family. And... though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at The Late Show would like to extend our well-wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough."

As OK! previously reported, "Where's Kate?" began to trend on social media after the mom-of-three, 42, was barely seen out in public. Colbert then decided to add onto the hearsay by claiming William stepped out on their marriage.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some troubling news about England’s royal family. Internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair," the TV star said in his March 12 monologue.

“I think we all know who the alleged other woman is, say it with me, The Marchioness of Cholmondeley," he continued. "Now there have been rumors of an affair between William and [Rose] since 2019. According to tabloids, back then, when Kate supposedly confronted him about it, he ‘laughed it off, saying there was nothing to it.’ Aha, always a good response when your wife accuses you of cheating.”

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After Kate came forward with the news, people slammed Colbert and urged him to apologize.

"How far you have fallen by making fun of Princess Catherine who has cancer. Shame on you," one person commented on the most recent upload on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Instagram page.

"Well done for making fun of a woman with cancer👏👏👏," wrote another, while a third said, "You bullied a person with cancer 😡🤬😡😡😡😡."