The world has become obsessed with the current status of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, all thanks to a photo editing fail.
The duchess spent a lot of time in the public eye as the wife of heir apparent to the British throne, Prince William. For years, Kate’s been attending events looking put-together and smiling, even posing for photos – in high heels – hours after giving birth to the couple’s third child, Prince Louis.
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Her strength and resilience are part of what is feeding the online conspiracy theorists who are convinced something awful has happened to the Princess of Wales. Kensington Palace first announced in January that the duchess would be taking a break from public appearances as she recovered from “abdominal surgery.” From the very first moments, followers wondered about the vague wording and the extended recovery time.
“The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery,” a press release from January 17 said. “Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate,” it said. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”
The only other detail given was that her condition was “non-cancerous.”
A second statement released on January 29 assured fans that Kate was “making good progress” with her recovery and would be returning home to finish recuperating.
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Followers started circulating all kinds of theories about why the Princess of Wales was off duty for so long. Their obsession became so extreme that Kensington Palace put out another statement on February 29 reiterating that Kate would be out until Easter, as they said, and that everyone should just calm down.
“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance still stands,” the tersely worded statement said.
Perhaps the speculation would have died out or at least stayed under the radar if not for the complete PR disaster that occurred on March 10, which is when Mother’s Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom.
Kate shared a photo of herself and her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louise, in honor of the holiday. “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” the Instagram image caption said. “Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”
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Almost immediately, viewers noticed that there was visible editing done in the photo resulting in part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve disappearing completely. The edits were so egregious that three major news agencies issued a “kill notice” on the photo due to it being digitally altered.
“AP initially published the photo, which was issued by Kensington Palace. But AP later retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards,” the agency wrote at the time. “The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”
Agence France-Presse (AFP), one of the biggest news agencies in the world, said the photo made it so Kensington Palace was no longer a trusted source. The organization’s global news director Phil Chetwynd told BBC Radio 4 that “kill notices” for photos are used rarely, and are usually done with content coming out of Iran or North Korea.
“One thing that’s really important is you cannot be distorting reality for the public,” Chetwynd said. “There’s a question of trust. And the big issue here is one of trust, and the lack of trust and the falling trust of the general public in institutions generally and in the media. And so it’s extremely important that a photo does represent broadly the reality that it’s seen in.”
After the extreme backlash, Kensington Palace issued an apology directly from Kate.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the duchess wrote on Twitter. “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.”
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However, sources from the news agencies reported that the Palace refused any requests for the original photo.
Within hours of the photo drama playing out across the internet, scores of royal sleuths started putting forth their theories, which spread like wildfire on social media. Kate was dead! She was in a coma! Or perhaps she was recovering from horribly disfiguring cosmetic surgery. None of the wildest theories seemed likely, yet the Palace’s refusal to share the original photo just helped add fuel to the fire.
Some conspiracy theorists even dreamt up a tale of Kate having a nervous breakdown because her husband was cheating with her ex-friend Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, referencing unsubstantiated affair rumors that went viral in 2019.
It didn’t help that two other times the duchess was spotted in public, the photos weren’t very clear. First was the week before the photo debacle when Kate was seen, in a pair of sunglasses, in the passenger seat of her mother’s car. The second time photographers caught a photo of the back of Kate’s head as she rode in a car with Prince William.
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Now another news report from The Sun says Kate was spotted out shopping over the weekend near her home in Windsor on Saturday, looking “happy, relaxed and healthy.” There are no photos or named sources, but that’s the story being given.
“Kate [Middleton] was out shopping with William and she looked happy and she looked well,” an unnamed source told the outlet, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “The kids weren’t with them but it’s such a good sign she was healthy enough to pop down to the shops.”
The source added, “After all the rumors that had been going round I was stunned to see them there.”
There’s a good chance the rumors will keep swirling until Easter when the Princess of Wales makes her return to public duties. In the meantime, she’ll likely want to leave the photo editing to the professionals.