RELATED: How Princess of Wales came a cropper in photo storm
Kate, Princess of Wales has apologised for confusion created by a digitally altered family photograph that was released to mark Mother’s Day.
The image of the princess and her children, taken by the Prince of Wales, was the first to be issued since her abdominal surgery in January.
It was published by Kensington Palace on Sunday, before being withdrawn hours later by international agencies through a so-called kill notice, due to suspicions it had been manipulated. The Press Association recalled the photo on Monday.
Agencies have become increasingly alert to manipulated images due to the proliferation of AI-generated content. Royal commentators said the PR failing could fuel speculation over Kate's health when the royal family was actually trying to dispel such rumours.
In the picture, a smiling Princess of Wales was shown posing with her beaming children Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte in Windsor, where the family live.
Kensington Palace said the photo had been taken by her husband, heir to the throne Prince William, last week.
Concerns were raised over a missing part of Princess Charlotte's sleeve and the misaligned edge of her skirt, with speculation including the misaligned positioning of Kate's zip.
There were also peculiarities over the alignment of the Princess of Wales's face, Princess Charlotte's hair, a step in the background and the pattern on Prince George's jumper.
The Princess of Wales, 42, on Monday released a statement on social media to apologise, which 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. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C."
The picture was released to reassure the public amid escalating conspiracy theories online over the state of the princess's health in recent weeks, but the controversy – referred to as "Kategate" and "Sleevegate" – has been labelled an "extraordinary" turn of events.
Royal sources told news agencies the Princess of Wales made "minor adjustments" and the couple wanted to offer an informal picture of their family together for Mother's Day.
"The Wales family spent Mother's Day together and had a wonderful day," the source added.
Kensington Palace, which has said it will not be reissuing the original unedited photograph, has come under growing pressure over the debacle, with the controversy branded "damaging" to public trust of the royal family.
The princess underwent planned abdominal surgery for a non-cancerous but unspecified condition in January, with Kensington Palace saying at the time she would not return to public duties until after Easter.
Her office has said she was recovering well but her absence has led to intense speculation about her health on social media in recent weeks.
Prince William recently pulled out of a memorial service for the late former King Constantine of Greece, where he had been due to give a reading, due to what Kensington Palace called a "personal matter".
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Catherine, Princess of Wales greets wellwishers after attending the Christmas Day service at Sandringham Church in Norfolk in 2023. All photos: Getty Images, unless otherwise indicated -
Catherine flies a drone as she visits The Queen's Dragoon Guards Regiment for the first time as their Colonel-in-Chief in November 2023 -
Catherine congratulates the England team on their Rugby World Cup quarter final victory over Fiji at Marseille's Stade Velodrome in France, in October 2023 -
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince William and Catherine on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023 -
Catherine meets wellwishers during a walkabout on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace before the coronation in May 2023 -
Catherine takes part in a spin class during a visit to Aberavon Leisure and Fitness Centre in Port Talbot, in February 2023 -
Prince George, Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Catherine attend the Easter Mattins Service at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in April 2023 -
Catherine is driven down The Mall after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022 -
Prince William and Catherine with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during the Lying-in-State of Queen Elizabeth in the Palace of Westminster in September 2022 -
Catherine and Prince Louis attend the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in June 2022 in London -
Catherine, Prince William and their children on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch the RAF flypast during the Trooping the Colour parade to mark Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 -
Catherine is accompanied by Hollywood star Tom Cruise at the Top Gun: Maverick Royal Film Performance at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, in May 2022 -
Catherine enjoys a slide during a visit to the Lego Foundation PlayLab in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 2022 -
Catherine takes part in an England training session, after becoming patron of the Rugby Football Union in February 2022, at Twickenham Stadium in London -
Prince William and Catherine attend the Earthshot Prize at Alexandra Palace, London, in October 2021 -
Catherine plays tennis with US Open champion Emma Raducanu at the LTA Centre in Roehampton in September 2021 -
Catherine land yachting at the beach in St Andrews, Scotland, in May 2021 -
Catherine tries her hand at archery on visit to The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton in May 2021 -
Catherine visits to the Covid-19 vaccination centre at Westminster Abbey in March 2021 -
The royal couple play a grab-a-teddy game during a visit to Barry Island, South Wales, to speak to local business owners about the effect of Covid-19 on the tourism sector in August 2020 -
Prince William and Catherine try hurling at Salthill GAA club during a visit to Ireland in March 2020 -
Prince William and Catherine visit a settlement of the Kalash people, to learn more about their culture and unique heritage, during a visit to Pakistan in October 2019 -
Catherine accompanies Princess Charlotte as she arrives for her first day of school with her brother Prince George at Thomas's Battersea in London in September 2019 -
Catherine presents Novak Djokovic with the Wimbledon men's singles trophy in July 2019 -
Queen Elizabeth visits the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with Prince William and Catherine in May 2019 -
Prince William, Catherine, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry arrive for the Christmas Day church service on the Sandringham Estate in 2018 -
Catherine at a state banquet for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands at Buckingham Palace in October 2018 -
Catherine and Prince William with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis after Louis' christening at St James's Palace, London, in July 2018 -
Prince William and Catherine leave the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, London, with newborn Prince Louis in April 2018 -
Catherine and Prince William cook with nursery children in Norway, during a visit to Sweden and Norway in February 2018 -
Catherine with four-year-old Rafael Chana on a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to officially open the Mittal Children's Medical Centre in January 2018 -
Catherine dances with Paddington Bear as she meets the cast and crew of the film Paddington 2 in London in October 2017 -
Catherine plays with Prince George as US President Barack Obama talks to Prince William at Kensington Palace in April 2016 -
In front of the Taj Mahal during the royal tour of India in April 2016 -
Catherine and Prince William on a game drive at Kaziranga National Park in north-eastern India, in April 2016 -
Catherine with her daughter Princess Charlotte at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate for the princess's christening in July 2015 -
Catherine and Prince William at Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2014 -
Catherine with Prince George and Prince William visiting the Natural History Museum in London in July 2014 -
Catherine and Prince William with newborn Prince George, at St Mary's Hospital in London in July 2013 -
Prince Harry, Catherine and Prince William on the set of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter films during the opening of the Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, in April 2013 -
Catherine and Prince William celebrate after watching cyclists Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy of Great Britain win the gold and set a world record during the London 2012 Olympic Games -
Queen Elizabeth II and Catherine watch a fashion show at De Montfort University, Leicester, in March 2012, during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK -
Prince William and Catherine outside Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding where a helicopter was waiting to fly them off on honeymoon -
Catherine and her sister and maid of honour Pippa Middleton enter Westminster Abbey for the royal wedding on April 29, 2011 -
Prince William exchanges rings with his bride in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams during their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey in April 2011 -
Kate Middleton and Prince William visit Trearddur Bay lifeboat station in Anglesey, Wales, in February 2011, after their engagement in November 2010 -
Prince William and Kate Middleton cheer the English team during the RBS Six Nations Championship rugby match between England and Italy at Twickenham in 2007 -
At the Gatcombe Park Festival of British Eventing in Gloucestershire, in 2005 -
Kate Middleton during her graduation at St Andrews University in June 2005. She and Prince William met as students at the university in Scotland. PA -
Kate Middleton, front left, in a rounders team photo during her time at St Andrew's School in Pangbourne, Berkshire. She attended the school from 1986 until 1995 -
Kate on a family holiday in the Lake District when she was three years old
'Fuelling speculation'
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The National the release of the image was “embarrassing” for the royal family.
"The reason that it’s been done is to quash rumours, which of course will be restarted, and also on a worldwide basis," he said. "That’s what the problem has been. Because when William pulled out of the memorial service, what you had afterwards was it became an international [story].
"When the princess does resume royal duties, this will probably be largely forgotten. But for the moment there is so much trolling online and with a lot of undesirable activity, including paparazzi."
He added: "It will fuel speculation, which is the last thing it was meant to do."
Meg Coffey, a media commentator and social media expert, told The National a kill notice was "as bad as it gets".
"A kill notice is stop distribution, remove it from everything you have got it published from, remove it, delete it. That photo is never to be used again," she said.
"And they don’t just issue a kill notice lightly. AP and Reuters are the gold standard. So if they issue a kill notice, it’s bad. It means there is a fundamental issue with this image that breaks ethical standards."
media commentator
She said news agencies have to be strict due to the advent of AI and recent launch of the new text-to-video tool Sora, meaning that people need to be able to trust what they receive from a source like Reuters.
Ms Coffey said: "We’re at a scary time in media and the royal family, they hold a really important position. They of all people should know the importance of truth and they should not be releasing manipulated images."
"You can’t have a photo that has been manipulated to mark a historical moment of a historical figure."
And when you start doctoring images, it calls into question your credibility, said Ms Coffey.
"There is a lot of questioning about what is going on with her at the moment," she added.
"And from a 'crisis coms' point of view, releasing an image which got a kill notice is not doing anyone any favours when it comes to conspiracy theories."
Public relations and crisis consultant Mark Borkowski called the fiasco a "massive own goal" and said 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.
The controversy is set to overshadow the Commonwealth Day service, one of the key royal events of the year.
The Princess of Wales was seen for the first time since her operation last week, when, according to US news website TMZ, she was pictured near Windsor Castle in the passenger seat of a car.
She was wearing dark sunglasses in a black Audi, which was being driven by her mother Carole Middleton.
