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Princess Catherine, formerly known as Kate Middleton, may have dug the conspiracy theory hole surrounding her health a little deeper by making the curious decision to edit the photograph she posted of her with her kids for Mother's Day in Britain. Catherine took to social media on Monday to admit she manipulated the original image with editing.
The X/Twitter account of The Prince and Princess of Wales — the official titles of Prince William and Princess Catherine — posted a message reading, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
The note continued, “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.”
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
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024
The photo depicted Catherine sitting and happily surrounded by her three smiling children — George, Charlotte and Louis — whom she embraced with her arms around them.
But within hours after Kensington Palace released the photo, numerous news organizations — including The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse — issued advisories urging news organizations to remove the image on the grounds that it had been digitally altered.
As the A.P. explained after completing their inspection the photograph, the image — according to the A.P.'s editors — “shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.” Further, the A.P. said that the source of the photo “had manipulated the image in a way that does not meet A.P.’s photo standards.”
Now the admission by Catherine that she did indeed alter the original photograph adds another weird wrinkle to the increasingly mysterious puzzle of the state of her health and whereabouts since her abdominal surgery two months ago.
The conspiracy theories started as the stuff of British tabloid fodder — the royal family informed the media at the time of Catherine's surgery that she asked for privacy during this time and wouldn't return to official duties until after Easter.
When she was therefore not seen during her recuperation, it should have been anticipated — but given the public's increasingly insatiable inability to take any information at face value, bizarre conspiracy theories started to swirl about the nature of the surgery and the state of Catherine's health.
The release of this family photo, besides celebrating Britain's Mother's Day, certainly felt intended to dispel all of the conspiracies and show that Princess Catherine was recuperating smoothly — but instead, Catherine revealing that she edited the image has only added fuel to the rumor mill fire and has the Catherine conspiracies swirling fully ablaze all over social media.
As the New York Times explains in an analysis of the controversy, “the details of the photo show a range of visual inconsistencies suggesting it was doctored. In several areas of the image, details like a sleeve or a zipper don’t line up, or have artificial patterns.”
The question then becomes, why would Catherine, formerly known as Kate Middleton, make these adjustments? The Princess of Wales certainly has a right to privacy regarding all medical matters, but she must know that all eyes are on her at the moment, and the optics of editing her first family photo post-surgery certainly don't look great for Kensington Palace.
