Jeremy Vine has issued a new theory on the drama surrounding Princess Kate’s Mother’s Day photo, as he claims the Prince and Princess of Wales are being “stitched up like kippers.”
Princess Kate was forced to issue a statement on Monday morning after claims that the heartwarming photo she released on Mothering Sunday, featuring her three children and taken by Prince William, was heavily edited.
A number of picture agencies, including the UK’s biggest PA Media, issued a “kill notice” surrounding the photo – essentially withdrawing it from their circulation after an absence of clarification from Kensington Palace. The Associated Press (AP) Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Getty Images also separately issued the same notice to media organisations around the globe.
But in a statement today, Princess Kate said: “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”
But speaking on his Channel 5 show, the 58-year-old TV presenter issued a theory that the extra drama surrounding the photo has been done because picture agencies like PA “hate” the Royal Family taking their own photos.
He said: “They hate the royals taking their own photos. They hate it. It started with Meghan and I’m sure that’s part of the reason the press had it in for Meghan as well. So here they’ve got a chance to properly do them over. Because they go “Here’s our photo, will you print it?” and they say “no, no”.
“And next time, the royals will have to bring in a professional photographer, which is what the agencies want. So it maybe that they deliberately stitched them up like kippers here – but don’t put out a fake photo.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the agencies who issued a “kill notice” for comment, which are are Getty Images, AP, AFP and PA.
A spokesperson for PA, the UK’s national news agency said earlier: “Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.
“We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”
