Kate Middleton's Apology Over Photoshop Is Fueling Conspiracy Theories

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To celebrate Mother's Day in the UK, Kensington Palace released a photograph of Kate Middleton and her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. The portrait, taken by Prince William, featured the Princess of Wales sitting in a chair, with one arm wrapped around Charlotte and another around Louis. Behind Kate stands George, who holds his hands around Kate's shoulders.

It was the first picture of Kate released by the Palace since her abdominal surgery in January, and instead of quieting the online speculation that has ignited around the Princess in recent weeks, it only added fuel to the fire.

Within hours, photo agencies recalled the photograph over concerns it was digitally altered, and stated that no replacement would be provided. (The Palace has not shared an un-edited version of the photo). "At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image," the Associated Press said in its advisory, noting "AP does not use altered or digitally manipulated images."

Then, this morning, Kensington Palace shared a personal apology from Kate Middleton, who wrote, "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." She signed the note, "C," short for Catherine.

The apology did not end the conspiracy theories around the image; it made them worse. Suddenly, everyone from TikTok accounts with no followers to publications like the New York Times were analyzing the edits Kate supposedly made to the photo—Princess Charlotte's sleeve disappears, Prince Louis's sweater pattern is odd, Kate's hair and zipper are misaligned, and so on—leading to numerous questions about why Kate felt the need to alter the photograph.

Users on social media theorized about the Palace's decision to release an edited photograph: Maybe they wanted a picture where all the kids were smiling. Maybe Kate, feeling anxious about her appearance post-surgery, wanted to make sure she looked perfect.

But conspiracy theories began to bloom. One TikTok posted by Allyn Aston, a singer and podcaster who usually posts about pop music, alleges that the photoshop was used to disguise the fact that it was actually an older photograph of the Princess and her children. Specifically, Aston points out, Kate, George, Charlotte, and Louis appear to be wearing very similar (if not the exact same) outfits as they wore to volunteer at a Baby Bank in Maidenhead, a town in Windsor, in November. Aston hypothesizes that the sweater Kate is wearing in the photograph is the same Reiss turtleneck Kate wore to that outing in November, just a photoshopped to be a different color. Princess Charlotte, too, seems to be wearing the exact same ruffled neckline as she did to that outing (a red Cyrillus cotton and cashmere sweater)—just with another sweater added via photoshop on top, perhaps explaining the weirdness around her wrist.

Of course, it's possible that the Waleses simply re-wore those outfits, or wore similar clothes to that appearance, but the conspiracy theory is what's picking up views—more than 900,000 as of the writing of this story.

Those who work in media, too, are questioning when the image was taken, or why decisions were made about the photoshop. Chris Ship, the royal editor of ITV news, posted on X, "Any good horticulturalists out there who can answer the leaf question on the Kate photo. What is the plant in question? And should it be this leafy in March/early Spring??" Journalist Heidi N. Moore asked, "So here's my question about the Kate Middleton picture. Since they were photoshopping it anyway, why did they edit out her wedding ring?" (Kate reportedly was just not wearing her rings at home.)

A social media editor for the Daily Mirror, Ruby Naldrett, suggested that the photo of Kate's face was from her British Vogue cover, taken in 2016. "my analysis of the kate middleton photo saga is that they took her face from the vogue cover she did years ago and edited it in," Naldrett posted, sharing an overlay of the cover and the Mother's Day portrait:

There were also plenty of questions about whether or not it was actually Kate who edited the image. "Are we seriously supposed to believe that kate middleton has Adobe Creative Cloud subscription," Paris Martineau, a journalist at the Information posted on X. Reporter Christopher Ingraham posted a similar sentiment, writing, "Yes I am sure the Princess of Wales is doing her own photoshop work as she recovers from abdominal surgery, that seems very plausible and normal to me."

In addition, the photoshop has genuinely made people online worry for Kate's health. Podcaster Jennifer Taylor-Skinner posted on X, "Thinking about that manipulated photo of Kate Middleton, and wondering what circumstances would make it impossible to sit for a quick photo. Yes, it's none of my business but it's becoming more and more worrying."

The Mother's Day photo drama is the Streisand Effect, royal edition: The Palace, by trying to quiet online speculation around her health, has seemingly made things worse, and made people who were not paying attention to the British royals suddenly tune in.

Apart from Kate's apology this morning, Kensington Palace has yet to publicly address the photoshop controversy. When speculation began bubbling up online regarding Kate's health, the Palace seemingly responded to the rumors, with a spokesman saying "Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess' recovery and we'd only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands." Last week, Prince William, too, seemingly responded to the online discourse, with a spokesperson saying, "his focus is on his work and not on social media." However, the Palace has yet to explicitly respond to, or even acknowledge, the ongoing conspiracy theories online, and it's unlikely they ever will.

Kate is not expected to resume public duties until after Easter, and there's no indication there will be any other updates on (or photos of) the Princess anytime soon.

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