Kate's photo 'manipulation' is a 'real controversy' that adds 'fuel to the fire'

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Princess Kate with her kids in a controversial photo posted online on Mother
Princess Kate with her kids in a controversial photo posted online on Mother's Day (Image: PA)

The controversial photo of Kate and her kids is only adding "fuel to the fire" surrounding the royals, according to an expert.

The Mother's Day snap was shared across the Waleses' social media channels yesterday alongside a post signed off by the Princess thanking people for their support as she continues to recover from abdominal surgery. However, fans began pointing out 'errors' in the photo, which had supposedly been taken by Prince William.

It appeared like a lazy editing job had resulted in odd inconsistencies, including with Princess Charlotte's sleeve and skirt, as well as Prince Louis' right hand. Prince George also appears to be out of focus, while Kate's hair is blurred but not her face.

Last night, several of the world's biggest international photo agencies said the photograph had been "manipulated". The Associated Press (AP) Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Getty Images all separately issued a "kill notice" to media organisations around the globe, confirming they had each deleted the image from their individual libraries. This morning, major UK news agency Press Association (PA) also pulled the image.

Kensington Palace has come under "increasing pressure" to address the controversy, though it has so far refused to comment, even completely ignoring the issue in a post about the Commonwealth Day celebrations. It later flat out rejected to release the original version of the image despite calls to do so.

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In a statement, Kate 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"

In the original post, Kate had thanked royal watchers for their support as she continues to recover from abdominal surgery. There has been much speculation about the mum-of-three's health, with her having not been seen since Christmas. Yesterday, eagle-eyed royal fans on social media spotted that the sleeve of Princess Charlotte's arm did not line-up. Questions were also raised over Prince George's right hand being out of focus and Prince Louis' right hand seeming odd.

Royal correspondent Richard Palmer took to X to have his say on the matter, as well as posting a series of others' takes and newspaper front pages. He said: "What should have been a way of dampening down the hysteria now threatens to add fuel to the fire."

He added: "There have been some crazy things written about the Princess of Wales on social media in the past couple of weeks but the decision by several news and picture agencies to kill Prince William ’s picture on the grounds that it appears to have been manipulated is a real controversy."

Ryan Merrifield

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