The Princess of Wales has personally apologised after a photograph released on Mother’s Day sparked controversy after claims it had been digitally altered.
The image of Kate with her three children, said by the palace to be taken by the Prince of Wales, was posted on social media on Sunday. But rather than quelling ongoing speculation about her health following abdominal surgery in January, it instead raised further questions after eagle-eyed observers spotted discrepancies in the picture. Four international photo agencies later retracted the image, followed by the UK’s main press agency, PA Media.
On Monday, the Princess of Wales posted an apology on X, saying: “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”
She was later spotted leaving Windsor in a car with William as he was driven to the Commonwealth Day service in London. Kate was not due to attend the service but instead understood to have a private appointment.
What we know
At 9am on Sunday, Kensington Palace published the photo with Kate surrounded by her three children, George, 10, Charlotte, eight, and Louis, five. The photo was said to have been taken by Prince William last week at the family’s home in Windsor.
It was published on Sunday to coincide with Mother’s Day and to attempt to put an end to speculation about Kate’s health as the first official photo of her since her surgery in January. The last time Kate was photographed in public was on Christmas Day while attending a church service at the Royal Family’s Sandringham estate.
In the post, Kate said: “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. C.”
However, observers on social media raised concerns about the image almost immediately.
Some pointed to two main areas where the image was potentially doctored – the cuff on Charlotte’s cardigan does not appear to align with her left hand and has a circle that appears out of place, and part of Louis’ jumper where the pattern appears to be out of sync. It was also noted that Kate does not appear to be wearing a wedding ring on her left hand.
Later on Sunday, Associated Press (AP) became the first of a series international news and photo agencies to retract the image. AP issued a “kill notification” for the photos, an industry term meaning it had been retracted and was not to be used. The agency said: “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.”
Then a second agency, Reuters, announced it too had withdrawn the photo “following a post-publication review”. A third news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP), also issued a “mandatory kill notice” on the photo, while Getty Images became the fourth group to retract the picture.
On Monday morning, the UK’s PA Media also said it would be withdrawing the image from its picture service, saying the Palace had still yet to respond to requests for an “urgent clarification”.
After the Princess of Wales’s statement was released on Monday, royal sources said the Kate made “minor adjustments” and that she and the Prince of Wales wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day.
“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.
The controversy follows recent attempts by the palace to quell rumours about Kate’s condition with various recent statements to media outlets. Referring to William, a spokesman for the palace told People magazine last week: “His focus is on his work and not on social media.”
Watch: Kate personally apologises for confusion as she takes blame for editing picture
At the end of last month, it told the BBC: “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’s recovery. We said we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.”
At the beginning of this month, royal aides reportedly told The Sun: “We were really clear from the start we weren’t going to provide a running commentary on the Princess of Wales’s health and only provide significant updates. Obviously, we’ve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy.”
What we don’t know
While the Royal Family may be hoping that Kate’s mea culpa will put an end to the controversy, it is unclear whether the story will now die down.
The palace’s refusal to release the original image means it is impossible to know the extent of the editing that took place and whether – as Kate’s statement implies – the changes were minor ones. As a result, social media speculation remains rife, which is almost certainly not what the royals would have wanted.
Certainly, the Prince and Princess of Wales shouldn’t be surprised by the scale of the coverage sparked by some clumsy editing practices.
In December, the Wales’s Christmas card prompted similar questions over the festive black and white picture, pointing out that William’s legs appeared to be missing from behind Charlotte’s chair and, more obviously, Prince Louis’ middle finger also seemed to be absent.
Kensington Palace must have known the first picture of Kate following her prolonged absence would be poured over, and the decision to allow it to be edited will raise questions over how the royals put such intimate portraits into the public domain in the future.
The photo was the first official image of Kate since she was admitted to the London Clinic for a planned operation on 16 January. Kate left the hospital on 29 January and returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
Details of the princess’s condition have not been disclosed but Kensington Palace previously said it was not cancer-related and that Kate wished her personal medical information to remain private.
The 42-year-old future queen was last pictured in public during a Christmas Day walk in Sandringham, Norfolk, and is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter.
On Monday, public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski described the situation as a “massive own goal” for the royals, that 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 said.
Kate ‘may have edited family image with AI’
A photography expert has said the Princess of Wales may have used artificial intelligence to alter part of the image of her and her children.
Stephen Davies, known as The Photoshop Guy, is a photographer and digital artist near Cardiff, Wales, and has 25 years of Photoshop experience.
He told Yahoo News UK there were a number of discrepancies with the image, but that Kate’s right hand around Louis’ waist could have been added using AI.
“With Kate’s hand around Louis, it’s very low-res compared to the rest of the image,” he said. “I believe that looks like it’s been inserted with AI because it’s got all the signs of using artificial intelligence. It’s not as sharp as the rest of the image and there’s no texture in that part as well.
“If you look at the jumper there’s lots of texture but if you look at the shadow area there’s no texture there. I know that’s not motion blur by the camera, it’s just soft.
“I use AI all the time to manipulate things and that’s a sign, you have to sharpen it a bit more afterwards to blend it back into the image. I don’t know why but maybe her hand wasn’t there and they wanted to put her hand in to balance it. To create a hand in that area from scratch would be near impossible but in AI you can do it with the click of a button.”
Davies said there are signs that two or three photos were “merged together” for the final released image. He said: “I don’t think they’re trying to hide anything, I just think they wanted the perfect photo of everyone looking at the camera.”
On Monday, Sky News said an examination of the photo’s meta data revealed it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday and the picture was taken on a Canon Camera.
Under the licensing agreement issued to photo agencies for use of official royal photos, Royal Households usually stipulate: “This image must not be digitally enhanced, cropped, manipulated or modified in any manner or form.”