A Grainy Photo and a Dilemma: How U.K. Papers Are Covering Princess Catherine

After a week of often hysterical speculation about her well-being, there were suddenly two plausible pieces of evidence that Catherine, Princess of Wales, was on the mend: a photo of her in a car driven by her mother and a confirmation by the British Army that she would attend a military ceremony in June.

But as with almost everything surrounding the health of Prince William’s 42-year-old wife in recent weeks, any sense of certainty quickly melted away.

A palace official said on Tuesday that the army had jumped the gun in announcing Catherine’s participation in Trooping the Color, an annual ritual that celebrates the birthday of the sovereign. And while British newspapers reported the existence of paparazzi shots, purportedly of Catherine, that were posted on social media on Monday, none of them published the images.

At the end of another hothouse news cycle, consumers of royal news were back where they started: in the dark about the princess, who had abdominal surgery in January and has not been seen during her lengthy convalescence.

The only certainty in the saga of Catherine is the appearance of her freewheeling, unfiltered uncle, Gary Goldsmith, on a British reality-TV show, “Celebrity Big Brother,” which aired on Monday evening. At any other time, Mr. Goldsmith’s appearance might have been an embarrassment for Catherine, who has tried to cultivate a dignified, disciplined image as a senior member of the royal family.

In the vacuum of news about her, however, experts say Mr. Goldsmith’s reality-TV antics may provide a welcome distraction for Britain’s tabloid papers. Their editors have struggled to balance their zeal for covering the royals — an almost boundless enthusiasm, in the case of a future queen once known as Kate Middleton — with a recognition that even most public figures in Britain are generally entitled to privacy in matters of health.