Princess Kate apologises and takes blame for editing photo
Kate, the Princess of Wales has been engulfed in fresh royal drama after sharing a Mother’s Day photograph of her posing with her children on the couple’s social media accounts.
The image – the first official picture of the royal since her abdomina surgery back in January – featured Princess Kate sitting in a chair beside her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
The happy picture was initially well received by royal watchers worldwide but quickly sparked concern after online users noted that it may have been digitally manipulated.
Several international news agencies, including the UK’s national news agency, PA, retracted it from publication, with the Princess of Wales later publicly taking the blame for the mishap.
Here, Express.co.uk chronicles the events that led to the latest royal photo controversy.
The Princess of Wales’s Mother’s Day picture has been shrouded in controversy (Image: The Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace)
The Prince and Princess of Wales post new image to mark Mother’s Day
Kensington Palace released a brand new image of Princess Kate to mark Mother’s Day.
The photo, released at 9am on Sunday March 10, showed Kate sitting in a chair with all three of her children around her smiling.
Aides said the snap had been taken by William earlier in the week.
A message from Kate accompanied the image and said: “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. C.”
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Conspiracy theories emerge
Not long after the image was released, concerns started to appear over the quality of the picture.
People took to social media to point out several images, with many pointing out that Cahrlotte’s skirt appears blurred and missing a sleeve, Louis’s jumper pattern doesn’t appear to match up and one of his fingers appears shorter than the others.
Fans were also confused that Kate wasn’t wearing any wedding rings.
The allegations of digital manipulation soon prompted an abundance of conspiracy theories online but Kensington Palace refused to respond.
PA issues ‘kill’ notice for Mother’s Day photo (Image: PA)
‘Kill notice’ issued over manipulation claims
On Sunday evening, major international news and photo agencies issued a “kill notice” for the picture – an industry term used to retract a photo previously handed out to pubvlications.
The Associated Press (AP) became the first to issue the notice over an “inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand”.
While they said there was no suggestion that the image was fake, they decided to retract it as they belive it had been manipulated in a way that did not meet the agency’s photo standards.
Aides from both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace refused to response to the kill notice, with no statement issued.
Instead, the Royal Family’s official account on X chose to mark Commonwealth Day. The post read: “Today is #CommonwealthDay – the annual celebration of this unique and diverse organisation. 2024 marks 75 years since the founding of the modern #Commonwealth.”
‘Today is #CommonwealthDay – the annual celebration of this unique and diverse organisation. 2024 marks 75 years since the founding of the modern #Commonwealth’.
Kensington Palace raised concerns with its radio silence (Image: Getty)
UK news agency also retracts the image
The following morning, The Press Association, Britain’s national news agency, released a statement saying that it would be withdrawing the Mother’s Day photo from its collections over concerns involving the manipulation of the image.
PA said it had asked Kensington Palace for clarification about the image and “in the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”
Aides were under increased pressure to comment on the fiasco but maintained their radio silence.
Princess Kate publicly apologises over photo fiasco (Image: Getty)
Kate issues apology and takes responsibility
At 10:30am Princess Kate posted on the royal couple’s social media and publicly took the blame for the digitally altered family photograph released by Kensington Palace as she issued a personal apology for the “confusion”.
Kate wrote: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.
“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”
Kensington Palace later clarified that it will not be reissuing the original, unedited photograph.
Princess Kate (Image: GETTY)
Princess Kate pictured in car with Prince William for first time following apology
In the early afternoon, Kate and William were pictured in a car as they left Windsor Castle to head to London.
The Prince of Wales was on his way to attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service, while Kate was understood to have headed to a private appointment.
William could be seen on his phone, while Kate was gazing out of the window so only part of his face was pictured.
Kate made ‘minor adjustments’
Further details of the photo shoot emerge, with William understood to have taken the picture in just a 4-minute window on Friday before Kate editing it twice in Photoshop to “make it the best it can be”.
The Prince of Wales took the image on a £2,999 Canon camera.
Royal sources told The Times that the princess had made ‘minor adjustments’ to the picture, which she and her husband had hoped would be a lovely ‘informal’ shot to share on a special day.
‘This was an amateur, family photograph taken by the Princess of Wales. Their Royal Highnesses wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day,’ the source said.
‘The Princess made minor adjustments as she shared in her statement on social media, the Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day.’
