Royal Watchers Think Princess Kate Edited This Photo of Queen Elizabeth

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Another royal portrait is being reassessed amid the controversy over Princess Kate’s doctored family photo.

Getty Images told The Telegraph that an August 2022 picture of Queen Elizabeth II sitting among 10 of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren was “digitally enhanced at source.” The photo was taken by Kate at Balmoral Castle and released by Buckingham Palace last April in honor of what would have been the late monarch’s 97th birthday.

“Getty Images has reviewed the image in question and placed an editor’s note on it, stating that the image has been digitally enhanced at source,” a spokesperson for the wire photo agency said.

Seemingly manipulated details within the photo include digital repetition of Mia Tindall’s hair, inconsistencies in the queen’s tartan skirt, a shadow behind Prince Louis’s head, and mismatched fabric on the sofa.

In addition to Mia and Louis, other children featured in the portrait include Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Lady Louise Windsor, Savannah Phillips, Isla Phillips, Lena Tindall, Lucas Philip Tindall, and James, Earl of Wessex.

Royal watchers on X (formerly Twitter) also cast doubt on the veracity of the photo, questioning whether or not the queen was actually pictured amongst the kids. “This photo of Queen with her white grandchildren never happened. Queen Elizabeth was photographed sitting ALONE on this green sofa,” one user speculated. “After her death, photos were taken of these kids (minus Louis) around this sofa. Then Kate Middleton manipulated different photos to create 1 photo.”

The scrutiny over royal portraits continues over a week after major news agencies—including Getty Images—retracted a photo of Kate and her three kids that Kensington Palace released for Britain’s Mother’s Day. The agencies identified evidence of digital manipulation within the photo, setting off a firestorm of conspiracy theories and leading the palace to issue a rare personal apology attributed to Kate.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the message read. “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.”

The debacle led multiple reputed news publications to reconsider their relationship with the royals. Phil Chetwynd, global news director of Agence France-Press, told the BBC last week that the palace is “absolutely not” a trusted source in light of the digital alteration allegations. “Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised and we’ve got major issues internally as to how we validate that photo,” he said.

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