Kate Middleton's fingers are making headlines for a truly bizarre reason

From her errant grey hairs to her (gasp) unpedicured feet, Kate Middleton’s physical appearance has provided plenty of tabloid fodder in the decade she’s been in the public eye.
 
Just when you thought she couldn’t possibly have any features left to scrutinise, the media microscope has shifted its focus to the 36-year-old’s hands. More specifically, her fingers.

The Daily Mail has made the bold and shocking claim that the royal mum’s ring, middle and pointer fingers are “all the same length”. 
 
The story made its debut online last week, but then appeared in the UK publication’s print edition on Monday, splashing across the front page and eating up two full pages inside.

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So, to briefly recap: actual column inches in an actual newspaper have been dedicated to analysing the length of the Duchess of Cambridge’s fingers. This is where we’re at.

The investigation was prompted by zoomed-in photos of Catherine holding a clutch purse while visiting an Oxford school, in which the fingers in question appear vaguely similar in length.

The Daily Mail describes this as “very unusual”, and goes on to explain how the so-called “digit ratio” has been linked to various physical traits.

“For example, it was noted by scientists ... that men whose index fingers are longer than their ring fingers are significantly less likely to develop prostate cancer,” the article notes.
 
Bizarrely, a graphic added to the image to demonstrate the identical length of Catherine’s digits only serves to disprove the claim, with just one of them touching the indicator line.

As you might imagine, the article and its strange claim have been widely ridiculed and meme-d on social media.
 
A cursory glance at other photos of the soon-to-be mother of three’s hands indicate there is, in fact, nothing particularly unusual about the length of her fingers.