11 March 2024 , 13:00
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Controversy surrounding a new photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children has prompted people online to share hilarious memes poking fun at the bizarre situation.
Earlier today (March 11), Kate apologised for any confusion after a new photo of her and her three children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis - to mark Mother's Day on Sunday (March 10) was accused of being manipulated. Kate said she "occasionally experiments with editing" which should explain many of the oddities spotted by royal fans, ranging from the positioning of Prince Louis' hands to mismatched lines and clothing patterns.
The controversy saw Kensington Palace come under "increasing pressure" to address the photo after several international photo agencies removed it from their libraries over fears it had been "manipulated". And while the Royal Family try to move past the gaffe, people on social media can't help but poke fun at it - with several memes going viral.
One meme poked fun at Prince William, who took the photo (X)One hilarious post shared on X (formerly Twitter) used a photo of Prince William - who was the one who took the photo of his wife and kids - using a laptop and smiling to make a quip about the editing blunder. The post read: "Prince William finding the blur tool on Photoshop."
Another used a picture of the Prince of Wales bending down to talk to a young fan at a royal event, with text that read: "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU KNEW HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP?", while the official X account for the panel show Have I Got News For You tied the photo blunder to the Oscars ceremony which also took place on Sunday night, as they said the image should receive the "Oscar for Worst Picture".
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Others referenced the Willy Wonka Experience that recently made headlines for leaving parents seething after they paid £40 per ticket for a lacklustre event set in a filthy and almost-empty warehouse.
Another meme joked about the infamous Willy Wonka Experience (X)One person edited the original photo of the royals to replace Kate with the now-famous image of the solitary Oopma Loompa at the experience in Glasgow, and wrote: "The original photo WITHOUT Photoshop has been unearthed by international press."
Someone else took Kate and her three kids and edited the background to a picture of the Willy Wonka Experience, simply captioning the post: "Found the original."
Someone edited the family onto the set of the Willy Wonka Experience (X)Another X user used an AI art program to create a picture using Kate's likeness that was clearly fake, as the image showed her standing in a window - but her head was poking through the glass pane. They wrote: "The palace has issued another photo of Kate on her own to end rumours of manipulation. Let this be the end of the matter."
The memes come after Kate issued a statement about the photo following ongoing speculation that the image had been "manipulated". She 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."
One meme showed an image of Kate that was clearly AI generated (X)When she first shared the photo on social media, Kate thanked royal watchers for their support as she continues to recover from abdominal surgery. Kate has not been officially seen in public since she joined other members of the Royal Family for a Christmas Day walk, and the apparent photo-editing mistakes have fuelled rumours concerning her whereabouts.
Peter Hunt, a royal commentator, remarked: "This is bad for the royals. They knew there would be a lot of attention in any pictures they released of Kate. Their concern is that people will now wonder if they can be trusted and believed when they provide the next health report."