The Princess of Wales has been out of the public eye for months and people are starting to worry about her whereabouts.
Princess Kate was last seen on Christmas Day and the Royal Family issued a statement January 17 saying she would be undergoing scheduled abdominal surgery and would pause her public duties until after Easter. She was in the hospital for nearly two weeks and was photographed leaving on January 29.
“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” the palace said in a statement the day she was released. “That guidance stands.”
On March 10, Mother’s Day in the UK, an official photo released by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her three children turned out to be so doctored the Associated Press (AP) “killed” it, stating the photo was edited by the source and could not be published “because the image appeared to have been manipulated.”
It is extremely rare for the AP to kill a photo, and unheard of for an official palace photo to be pulled from circulation because it has been doctored.
The image went viral on social media, as netizens pointed out countess incongruencies within the photo, such as her daughter Charlotte wearing one heeled boot while the other one in flat and a blurred section of her sweater-clad arm, as well as irregularities on the pattern on the sweater of her youngest son, Louis.
People also pointed out a disruption in Kate’s zipper, the fact she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring and that the position and even pixelation of her face is identical to a recent Vogue shoot the princess appeared in. The list goes on and on.
A statement on the princess’ Instagram stories claimed it was Kate herself that made the edits and apologized for the “confusion.”
The photo, meant to appease the public during her long absence post-surgery, instead left people wondering — where is Princess Kate?
“We’ve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy,” royal aides told The Sun. “There has been much on social media but the Princess has a right to privacy and asks the public to respect that.”
Prompting further questions, the British military quiety removed the Princess of Wales from the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in June, reported Yahoo News.
An analysis conducted by CNN concluded it is “unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image” as it alters the photograph itself, prompting the publication to conduct a thorough review of all photos issued by the palace.
“In editorial photography, photojournalists and editors commonly adjust a photograph’s exposure or colour balance in order to more accurately reflect the scene,” CNN said in a statement. "CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace."
The publication will conduct an investigation and will expose any other doctored photos.
The British Press Photographers' Association (BPPA) released a statement "applauding" the AP and other agencies for "having the courage" to pull the photo.
"The suspicions that the photograph had been digitally manipulated are well-founded," said the BPPA.