Kensington Palace’s handling of Princess Kate’s edited photograph further undermines public trust and regaining it will be “almost impossible”, Omid Scobie has claimed. The author of Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival alleged the Palace’s “long history” of cover ups mean it is harder now for the public to believe official royal statements.
Mr Scobie posted the remarks on social media on Monday (March 11) after the Princess of Wales publicly shouldered the blame for a manipulated family photo issued by Kensington Palace. It comes just minutes after Scobie took a first swipe at the royals, saying: “Wonder what it would be like if they had a good comms team.”
Kate said sorry in a statement released on X which read: “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.”
The snap of Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis was taken by Prince William. It was the first to be issued since the princess’s planned abdominal surgery and was released by the Palace to mark Mother’s Day.
But it was withdrawn with a “Kill” notice by international picture agencies hours later because of suspicions it had been manipulated.
Mr Scobie, who has been dubbed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s mouthpiece in the past, wrote on X: “It’s fair to say that most photos released by the offices of public figures have been retouched in some way, so *if* this was an isolated incident then it would just be an unfortunate error.
“But with the Palace’s long history of lying, covering up, and even issuing statements on behalf of family members without their permission (cc: Prince Harry), it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now photo) they share.
“Gaining that back at this point is an almost impossible task.”
Kensington Palace has been approached for a response to Mr Scobie’s claims.
While Mr Scobie didn’t specify what he had in mind when he referred to Palace statements being issued without permsission, Prince Harry claimed in the second volume of the Sussexes’ Netflix docu-series that a statement issued in response to previous reports of William “bullying” his brother out of the Royal Family was sent out without his knowledge.
Kensington Palace has said it will not be reissuing the unedited photograph of Kate and her children.
Concerns had been raised over a missing part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her skirt, with other speculation including the positioning of Kate’s zip.
The picture was released to reassure the public amid escalating conspiracy theories online over the state of Kate’s health in recent weeks, but in an extraordinary turn of events sparked what is being dubbed “Kategate” and even “Sleevegate”.
William and Kate have an established track record of issuing their own photographs, often taken by Kate rather than William, to mark special occasions including their children’s birthdays.
But the princess’s confession raises questions over whether – or to what extent – the images have been altered in the past.
Public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski described the fiasco as a “massive own goal”, saying the unedited photograph should be released to regain trust.
He said: “It’s plausible she’s at home playing with the computer and using an AI tool, but if they’re really going to regain any sort of trust they should release the unedited photo, it can’t be that bad if they just made a few tweaks.
“I find they have risen to the challenge, provided the statement as an explanation – the question is with all the conspiracy theories running around, is whether people believe it and I’m not sure that they will.”
Mr Borkowski said the Mother’s Day photo had exposed a public relations problem for the monarchy: “That’s the issue, there doesn’t seem to be that much joined up strategic thinking at the heart of the Royal Family at the moment, which leads to these problems where it’s a very difficult organisation to manage in terms of PR.”
He added: “It’s a nightmare, even the softer stories of Edward turning 60 this week haven’t really resonated at all because no one’s interested in them, they’re interested in the stars they’re not interested in the supporting cast and that is a problem at the moment.
“They are under pressure, massively under pressure, this is a massive own goal.”
Princess Kate is known to be a keen photographer and revealed in 2021 she takes so many family photographs her children sometimes object.
