Princess Kate owns up to editing family photo as agencies pull image down

Doctored: Kate, the Princess of Wales has tendered an apology over ‘confusion’ after an image released by the Royal Family was taken down on likely manipulation.

The image, which had the Princess with her three children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - had some inconsistencies, like the hand and sleeve of Princess Charlotte’s left hand not aligned and a zipper on the left side of Princess Kate’s jacket.

Responding to the same, the Princess of Wales said she was ‘experimenting with editing.’

The photo was taken down by The Associated Press, Reuters, AFP and Getty Images, with X also marking digital alteration concerns on the image.

Amid social media and press speculation on the Princess’ health, Kate took to social media to post a clarification. The picture is said to have been clicked by her husband Prince William on Mother’s Day.

“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,” the post from her official account read.

The image was issued by the Kensington Palace on March 10 to mark Mother's Day in Britain, making it the first official photo of the Princess shared since her abdominal surgery in January.

“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” Kate captioned the image on social media. “Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day.” 

The photo was initially published by AP, which said it retracted the image despite no suggestion the photo was fake, on the basis of a closer inspection which revealed manipulation at the source’s end and not complying with AP’s photo standards.

Reuters also deleted the image “following a post-publication review”.  

The editing of images raises concerns amid technology use for manipulating images, with the Verge saying the image may be part of a ploy to ‘stitch together several photos so that the best expression on each person’s face was used.’ 

(With agency inputs)