A year on from Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day editing mishap: How Princess of Wales caused a stir with ‘manipulated image’
Mother’s Day is typically a quiet affair for the Royal Family, usually marked with a social media post or two.
But last year, the Princess of Wales caused quite a stir when an image Kensington Palace released of the family was quickly pulled from a number of photo agencies.
They had found evidence of ‘manipulation’ in the image, and online sleuths quickly identified a total of 16 issues with the Mothering Sunday photograph – which pointed to Photoshop.
A day later, as theories swirled, Kate admitted to editing the snap herself, saying she does ‘occasionally experiment with editing’ like ‘many amateur photographers’.
She said: ‘I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.’
Here, FEMAIL recaps exactly what happened last Mother’s Day…
Kensington Palace released the image of Kate Middleton with her three children last March
Kate Middleton admitted to editing the snap herself, saying she does ‘occasionally experiment with editing’ like ‘many amateur photographers’
As they typically do to mark Mothering Sunday, Kensington Palace released an image of the Princess of Wales with her three children on March 10 2024.
At first glance, the photograph was the very picture of a happy family.
However, the Palace soon came under pressure to reveal the truth behind the image after the world’s top picture and news agencies – including PA – ‘killed’ the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.
The photo of the mother-of-three beaming with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis was the first official picture released of the princess since she underwent ‘planned abdominal surgery’ in January.
Rumours swirled and sleuths pointed out flaws in the image, which included strange blurs and missing sleeves, until Kate released a statement blaming her own ‘experiment with editing’.
A statement from the Princess of Wales 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’
Royal sources stressed that this was ‘an amateur, family photograph taken by the Prince of Wales’.
They said the couple wanted to offer an ‘informal’ picture of the family together for Mother’s Day and the princess made ‘minor adjustments’, as she has shared in her statement on social media. An aide added: ‘The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day.’
The PA news agency said it had withdrawn the image of Kate from its picture service
Despite calls for the original to be published, Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the unedited photograph of Kate and her children.
PA – Britain’s most respected picture agency – joined AP, AFP, Reuters, Getty Images and EPA in withdrawing the photo shortly after it was published.
The UK’s national news agency said it had been ‘seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace’ since it was released over claims it was digitally altered.
Later, the agency revealed it withdrew the image ‘in the absence of that clarification’.
A spokesperson for PA said: ‘Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.
‘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.’
PA was the sixth news or picture agency to retract the photo.
The image of Kate and her children, said by the palace to have been taken by Prince William, was posted on social media.
Without an official response from the palace, confusion around the image had fuelled online conspiracy theories about Kate which have swirled on the internet since her abdominal surgery.
The picture shows Kate sitting in a chair with her arms around Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are on either side of her, with Prince George standing behind, as all four smile at the camera.
But there was speculation that edits had been made to the left sleeve of Princess Charlotte’s cardigan, and other areas of the picture also raised concerns about possible manipulation.
In the social media post, Kate thanked the public ‘for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months’.
Within hours of the photo being shared around the world, multiple picture agencies issued a ‘kill notification’ – an industry term used to retract a photo previously handed out to publications.
Late on the day of publication, the Associated Press became the first agency to ‘kill’ the photo over an ‘inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand’.
While AP said there was no suggestion the photo was fake, it retracted it because it said on closer inspection, the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet the agency’s photo standards.
AP said its editorial standards state that images must be accurate and that it does not use altered or digitally manipulated images.
The agency’s news values and principles explain that minor photo editing, including cropping and toning and colour adjustments, are acceptable when necessary for clear and accurate reproduction and should maintain the authentic nature of the photograph.
Changes in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels that substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable. Backgrounds should not be digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by aggressive toning. The removal of ‘red eye’ from photographs is not permissible.
It appears Charlotte’s hand was copied over from another picture as there is an empty space where her sleeve should be
Charlotte’s hair seems to end abruptly on her shoulder on her right despite her hair on the left going on for a few inches
The corner of Charlotte’s skirt was pointed out as another ‘editing error’ by social media sleuths
When AP determined the photo appeared to have been manipulated, it issued what is known as a ‘photo kill,’ an industry term that retracted the image and instructed clients to remove the photo from their systems.
‘At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,’ the AP said in its advisory. ‘No replacement photo will be sent.’
A second agency, Reuters, also withdrew the image ‘following a post-publication review’. ‘We are reviewing the matter,’ a spokesperson said.
Kate’s zip appears to be misaligned on the photo as the top of it is further left and appears significantly lighter than the rest of the zip
Reuters picture editors said part of the sleeve of Kate’s daughter’s cardigan did not line up properly, suggesting that the image had been altered.
The agency could not immediately establish how, why or by whom the alteration had been made.
AfP then followed suit by issuing a ‘mandatory kill notice’ before Getty Images became the fourth agency to retract the photograph. EPA this morning also issued the same ‘mandatory kill’.
A spokesman for AfP said: ‘It has come to light that the Handout issued by Kensington Palace today of Kate and the kids had been altered, therefore it was withdrawn from AFP systems.’
