Kate Middleton Says She Edited The Family Photo That Several News Agencies Retracted

The Princess of Wales has taken responsibility for editing a family photo of herself with Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. In a statement released on social media, Kate Middleton apologized for the frenzy it caused after several major news agencies pulled it from their coverage because they believed it had been “manipulated.”

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the princess said on Monday. “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.” The statement was signed “C” for Catherine.

On Sunday, Mother’s Day in the UK, Kensington Palace released a photo of Princess Kate sitting in a chair with her three children standing around her. The photo, the first the palace has shared of the princess since she had abdominal surgery in January, noted that it was was taken by her husband, Prince William, in 2024. (Before that, the public had only seen a paparazzi photo of her in a car with her mother published by TMZ on March 4.)

“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” she captioned the photo. “Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.”

Hours later, multiple news agencies, including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse, issued a “kill notification” regarding the photo. “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,” the AP said it its advisory.

“While there was no suggestion the photo was fake, AP retracted it because closer inspection revealed the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards,” the news agency explained on Monday. “For instance, the photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”

Beyond the issues cited by the AP, others on social media have spotted areas they believe were photoshopped, some even speculating that the photo wasn’t taken this year. A few have come to the princess’ defense, however, as one wrote on X, “To take the tinfoil hat off for a second — isn’t the most likely explanation that fidgety kids weren’t all looking the right way at the same time so multiple images were composited to make a good photo?”

The photo controversy follows weeks of conspiracy theories circulating on social media about the royal’s whereabouts and recovery. Princess Kate isn’t expected to return to her royal duties until after Easter at the end of March and this latest controversy, even with her explanation, has only led to more questions and chatter on social media.