The wild conspiracy theories and controversy surrounding Kate Middleton continues to escalate following the drama over a digitally altered family photo the Princess of Wales released in honor of Mother’s Day in the UK.
To sort through the rumors and speculation surrounding the photoshopped picture, ET spoke with royal expert Katie Nicholl, who shared some insight on Kensington Palace’s choice to release the photo to the press and why conspiracy theories are proliferating rapidly online.
“We’ve gotten used to the princess releasing pictures that she’s taken herself, often of her children. It is a very modern way of royal photography,” Nicholl told ET. “On this occasion, it was the Prince of Wales who took the photograph.”
While the digitally altered image seemingly came as a surprise to some, Nicholl explained, “In this day and age, it’s probably quite normal for all photographs to be photoshopped. You wouldn’t put a magazine cover story out without photoshopping and airbrushing that image, usually.”
On Sunday, the 42-year-old Princess of Wales appeared in a portrait — taken by her husband, Prince William — and released by Kensington Palace, which showed her with her three children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
After the image was released, several outlets, including The Associated Press, pulled the photo claiming the image was “manipulated.”
“AP initially published the photo, which was issued by Kensington Palace. But AP later retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards,” the news outlet explained. “The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”
Amid already existing conspiracies regarding Kate’s absence from the public eye following her abdominal surgery in January, this latest development grievously exacerbated the problems the Palace faces with regards to fringe theorists and rampant speculation.
“My sources at Kensington Palace say that these were minor adjustments and I think that’s a really important detail here,” Nicholl said. “We’re not talking about superimposing the Princess of Wales into an image because she wasn’t well enough to be there. And that’s some of the wild speculation that is flying around on the internet at the moment.”
“I suppose the real question here is how much digital enhancement was done on this photograph and keen-eyed observers have noticed some unusual things,” Nicholl admitted. “Not least the fact that the tree behind them is in full bloom. Well, the trees that I’m looking at here in London — and it’s a pretty cold winter that’s still going on — don’t have any leaves on them, and that’s got people wondering.”
Nicholl also pointed to the “discrepancy” with the sleeve of Charlotte’s wrist, as well as Louis’ unusual finger position and Kate’s blurry right hand.
“So there are definitely things that people have been reading into this photograph,” Nicholl said, before reiterating that her sources state the visual artifacts really were the result of minor touch-ups and adjustments.
On Monday morning, Kate addressed the controversy herself, releasing a statement via X (formerly Twitter) clarifying the confusion surrounding the image.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Kate wrote. “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.”
While airbrushing is likely common among all photos released to the press, Nicholl explained, “What’s been unusual in this is that four major picture agencies pulled this photograph late last night, two more followed this morning, because they believed that they had been digitally manipulated and the extent to which wasn’t quite sure. That’s why the picture agencies were wanting clarification.”
As for Kate’s explanation on social media, Nicholl said, “That statement could have come from Kensington Palace itself, but I think it’s quite important that it came from the Princess of Wales… but I think that’s probably the last word we’re going to hear — either from the princess or indeed from Kensington Palace on the matter as far as they’re concerned.”
“The explanation has been made. An apology has been offered for any confusion, and I think you will notice that the photograph is still on the couple’s social media channel. They’ve not chosen to take it down,” Nicholl said. “The fact that Catherine has apologized for any confusion caused should hopefully put an end to [the controversy.] I think that’s certainly the hope at the Palace.”
“I think that it will also bring an end to these pretty wild and outlandish rumors about Kate’s health,” Nicholl continued. “Some of the more crazy rumors out there [include] that she’s been in a coma and therefore wouldn’t possibly be well enough to be in an intimate family picture like this… [or] there is a theory that this was an image of Kate’s face that was superimposed from an old Vogue shoot.”
“I think any sort of digital enhancement on that level would probably be far beyond Catherine’s capabilities, to be perfectly honest,” Nicholl said. “And the fact that it looks like a bit of a botched job shows you that it was an amateur that was doing this, and that’s what she said. She’s an amateur photographer who sometimes plays around with digital enhancement — and that’s what’s happened here.”
In January, the senior royal went in for a “planned abdominal surgery,” with the Palace sharing that she would not be returning to her royal duties until after the Easter holiday.
Last week, Kate was seen for the first time since her hospitalization wearing sunglasses while riding in a black SUV driven by her mother, Carole Middleton. An eyewitness told ET at the time that Kate and her mom were spotted in their vehicle around 9 a.m. just outside London. “The Princess was low-key, looking out the window as her mother paid attention to the road,” the eyewitness said.
Despite the sighting, many still have questions about Kate’s whereabouts and health condition. Amid the speculation, William’s spokesperson addressed conspiracy theories in a statement to People. “His focus is on his work and not on social media,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
After speculation continued to circulate about the mother of three, the Palace released a statement reiterating their comments about her condition.
“We gave guidance two days ago that the Princess of Wales continues to be doing well,” the statement read. “As we have been clear since our initial statement in January, we shall not be providing a running commentary or providing daily updates.”
On Monday, the Prince and Princess of Wales were spotted out in a car together in Windsor, England. A royal source told ET that the Princess of Wales was on her way to a private appointment when she was seen with the father of her three children in their car.
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