China, Russia and Iran are 'fuelling attacks' on Princess Kate

After Kate, 42, announced her cancer diagnosis on Friday evening, Rishi Sunak led the condemnation of social media trolls for targeting her online in recent weeks.

Sunak wrote on social media: "My thoughts are with the Princess of Wales, Prince of Wales, the Royal Family and in particular her three children at this difficult time.

"The Princess of Wales has the love and support of the whole country as she continues her recovery.

"She has shown tremendous bravery with her statement today. In recent weeks she has been subjected to intense scrutiny and has been unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media.

"When it comes to matters of health, like everyone else, she must be afforded the privacy to focus on her treatment and be with her loving family.

"I know I speak for the whole country in wishing her a full and speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back in action when she’s ready."

However, his intervention did not deter the conspiracy theories online.

A disinformation chief said on Sunday that the princess had been “re-victimised” by trolls.

Kate was being criticised for not publicly revealing her diagnosis sooner.

On Sunday, it emerged there was growing concern in Whitehall that hostile state actors could be involved in whipping up the social media attacks on the 42-year-old.

A government source told The Telegraph: “Part of the modus operandi of hostile states is to destabilise things – whether that is undermining the legitimacy of our elections or other institutions.”

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said the social media attacks had “done damage” to the Royal Family.

He told the BBC: “When you’ve got a young lady, the Princess of Wales, who has suffered a medical emergency, you see people flooding in with conspiracy theories, you see them being amplified on social media platforms and pushed to millions and millions of people.

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“What really, I think, annoyed me was seeing that she was then being revictimised by being blamed for not having come out immediately.

“I think it’s the inhumanity of the way that social media has made us behave, forcing people to talk about things that can be very deeply personal.

“And also seeing of course the impact of that on our society, how quickly it was picked up by millions of people, and how much it’s done damage to the Royal Family themselves.”