A recently released family photo of Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her three children was edited, Kensington Palace confirms.
“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,” a statement from the Kensington royals reads.
Signed “C,” for Catherine, the message appears to be written by Kate Middleton herself.
The photo in question was shared Sunday in honour of Mother’s Day in the U.K., showing Princess Kate seated in a wooden chair with her arms around Prince Louis, 5, and Princess Charlotte, 8, with Prince George, 10, behind. The picture marked the first official image of Kate since she underwent abdominal surgery nearly two months ago.
But hours after the photo was released, The Associated Press issued a “kill notification” for the image, meaning the picture should not be used. The news agency barred the photo over concerns that “it appears that the source has manipulated the image.”
The photo appears to show a misalignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand. Kate also isn’t wearing her wedding ring in the picture. Self-proclaimed sleuths online have pointed out nearly a dozen so-called “inconsistencies” with the photo.
Speculation about the edited picture fuelled already existing, unfounded rumours about the 42-year-old Princess since she underwent abdominal surgery in January. Some conspiracy theories claim Kate underwent a possible cosmetic procedure or suffered a mental breakdown. More extreme theories assert that Kate is in a coma or the victim of a palace cover-up.
Still others say that she and her husband, Prince William, are separating and even divorcing.
The omnipresence of these unfounded theories makes it all the more puzzling why Kensington Palace would release an edited family photo of Kate.
“I am struggling to believe that the most famous royal family in the world — and the woman who would be queen — fiddled around with photoshop and put out a family pic (designed to quash rumours about her whereabouts) without anyone in the ranks inspecting it,” a comment on X, formerly Twitter, from U.K. journalist Sonia Poulton reads.
Kate was released from hospital two weeks after undergoing a successful abdominal surgery at the private London Clinic, says Kensington Palace.
“Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,” the palace said at that time.
Around the same time, King Charles received treatment for an enlarged prostate and was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer.
— With files from Global News’ Sarah Do Couto and Michelle Butterfield
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