The Princess of Wales has issued a personal apology after a family photograph issued by Kensington Palace on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day turned out to have been manipulated.
In a statement posted on X, the princess, formerly Kate Middleton, 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.”
She added, “I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”
The photograph of Princess Kate with her children, which was taken by her husband, Prince William the Prince of Wales, was the first to be issued since she underwent abdominal surgery and led the news on the BBC and several other UK news websites.
But several international picture agencies, including AP, withdrew it with a “kill” notice after suspicions arose about one of the children’s hands, suggesting the photograph had been manipulated.
Picture editors raised concerned that part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve appeared to be missing and there was a misaligned edge of her skirt, with other speculations including the positioning of Princess Kate’s zip.
The photograph was released amid conspiracy theories about the princess’s health. The princess underwent surgery on Jan. 16 at the London Clinic but details have been kept private and she is not expected to return to her official duties until after Easter.
Prince William and Princess Kate have in the past taken and released their own photographs, rather than professionally-taken ones, to mark their children’s birthdays and other special occasions.
But public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski said the manipulation was a “massive own goal” and called into question previous images they had released.
Mr. Borkowski 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.”
He said: “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, “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.”
“They are under pressure, massively under pressure, this is a massive own goal,” he added.
Sky News said the photo’s meta data revealed it was originally taken on a Canon camera and was saved twice in Adobe Photoshop on an Apple Mac twice on Friday and Saturday, before its publication on Sunday.
Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, which campaigns to abolish the monarchy, said: “Kate’s statement answers no questions. We can all see the photo has been edited. The question is why? Why haven’t they released the original photo?”
Mr. Smith said, “A statement parsed via the press office which says nothing and explains nothing shows a general disregard for the public.”
Kensington Palace has been accused on social media of damaging the public’s trust in the royal family.
The Prince of Wales is the heir to the throne and the older brother of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.
