Kate Middleton apologizes over doctored family photo, admits she ‘experiments with editing’
The Princess of Wales apologized early Monday for releasing a doctored family photo of her and her children, blaming it on amateur editing fails.
Kate Middleton tweeted her apologies after leading photo agencies — including Reuters, the Associated Press, Getty and AFP — all yanked the image over numerous signs it had been altered.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the princess wrote. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”
She ended by saying that “I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day” — which was Sunday in the UK — and ending casually with “C,” for her first name, Catherine.
The pic — the first official image released by Kensington Palace since the royal’s abdominal surgery in January — showed her smiling alongside Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
The palace said the photo had been taken by Prince William last week.
The heartwarming snap was meant to put to bed some of the wild speculation swirling around the 42-year-old princess’s health, but ended up instead creating fresh conspiracies that the family was hiding something.
Breaking down Kate Middleton's Photoshop fail
- On Monday, Kensington Palace released a new photo and statement from Kate Middleton for UK Mother’s Day. Eagle-eyed fans immediately saw the photo — showing Kate surrounded by her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — was littered with mistakes, either from Photoshop or AI.
- The photo, the original of which Kensington Palace refuses to release, was quickly recalled by photo agencies over fears it had been digitally “manipulated.”
- Middleton issued an apology Monday after her photo went viral for its numerous Photoshop errors. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said.
- One major telltale sign of manipulation was that a portion of Charlotte’s wrist seems to be missing from under the chopped-off sleeve of her cardigan. Charlotte’s checkered skirt likewise does not line up, with the right edge sticking out at a strange right angle and overlapping with George’s hands.
- Another unusual detail that raised questions about the image’s veracity is Prince Louis’ crossed fingers on his right hand — and a seemingly fuzzy and broken pattern on the right sleeve of his gray sweater.
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Eagle-eyed social media sleuths quickly pointed out that some of Charlotte’s arm appeared to be missing, the princess was not wearing her wedding ring, and her arms appeared to be unusually long.
Top news organizations initially published the image, but later withdrew it — with AP saying that closer inspection revealed the source had manipulated the photo in a way that did not meet the news wire’s photo standards.
