Kate, Princess of Wales, and her AI Doctored ‘Mother Day Family Photo’
Kate photo withdrawn by five news agencies amid ‘manipulation’ concerns
In a post on social media, Kate said that ālike many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.ā
Revealed: The alteration that made AP kill the family photo of Kate, Princess of Wales
Kate, Princess of Wales, apologized Monday for āconfusionāĀ caused by her altering of a family photoĀ released by the palace ā an image of Kate and her children that was intended to calm concern and speculation about the British royalās health, but had the opposite effect.
Four international photo agencies had already retracted the picture because of concerns it has been “manipulated”.
Several news agencies that initially published the photo, includingĀ The Associated Press, withdrew the image over concerns about digital manipulation. Issued by the coupleās Kensington Palace office on Sunday to mark Motherās Day in Britain, it was the first official photo of 42-year-old Kate since she hadĀ abdominal surgeryĀ nearly two months ago.
The retractions sent the online rumor mill, already rampantĀ with speculationĀ over Kateās operation and recuperation, into overdrive. The PR disaster is more evidence that the royal familyās long-held mantra ā ānever complain, never explainā ā is impossible in a social media-saturated era.
Earlier, Getty Images, AFP, Reuters and Associated Press pulled the photo – noting an “inconsistency in alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand”.
PA news agency said the image, originally posted by Kensington Palace on their social media, was provided “in good faith”.
But in a statement it added: “We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace.
“In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”
The photo shows the princess sitting down, surrounded by Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Prince George, the latter wrapping his arms around her.
It was the first official photo of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery two months ago. Since then she has stayed out of the public eye.
The image was posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales’s social media accounts with a message from Catherine which said: “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months.
“Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”
It has become a regular routine for the royal couple to release their own photos of special family occasions. More often than not, the photos are taken by Catherine and are issued to the media with instructions on how they can be used.
But, before Prince William’s image of his family was posted online, it would have gone through the social media team at Kensington Palace who manage the online accounts of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
It may well have been that some editing was done on the original photo which has now resulted in the discrepancies in its appearance.
The implication here is not that the entire photo is a fake or that the Princess of Wales is more unwell than she appears in the image. That seems unlikely and would be a very high-risk strategy from the Kensington Palace team.
But, late on Sunday, the Associated Press, one of many international agencies that distributed the photo, issued a “kill notification” – an industry term used to make a retraction.
It said: “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.”
A second news agency, Reuters, said it too had withdrawn the image “following a post-publication review”. This was followed by a third agency, AFP, which also issued a “mandatory kill notice”.
Getty Images became the fourth organization to retract the photograph.
The photo, designed to cool the conversation around the Princess of Wales’s recovery, has instead heated all the rumours up again.
Royal photographer Ian Lloyd told BBC Breakfast that editing of photos was “not unusual”, saying: “It has gone on in photography, and royal photography particularly, since the dawn of photography.”
He pointed to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Christmas card photo, released in December 2023, where Prince Louis “apparently had a finger missing” and there was “an extra leg”.
Catherine, 42, spent 13 nights at the London Clinic, near Regent’s Park in central London, following the surgery.
Prince William visited his wife during her stay and she was visited by the King before he hadĀ his own treatment there.
The Palace has shared few details about her condition, which has garnered significant social media speculation, but has said it is not cancer-related.
The team supporting the princess as she recovers is small and limited to those closest to her… More @ AP
Meanwhile,
Kate is still the same hot spicy Kate we all knew.
Lets start with Catherine The Great #1…