The Princess of Wales has apologised for editing a family photograph which was share online and sent to media on Mother’s Day.
Catherine said that she was "experimenting with editing" when she touched up the picture, and apologised for any confusion caused.
The apology was made using Kensington Palace's dedicated channel on the social media platform X. It was not accompanied by an unedited photo.
In a post, personally signed C for Catherine, she said: “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.”
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
Royal sources said the Princess of Wales made “minor adjustments” and that Kate and the Prince of Wales wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day.
“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.
READ MORE: Questions for Palace over suspicions new photo of Princess of Wales was doctored
The family portrait of Kate and her children, taken by the Prince of Wales was the first to be issued since the princess’s abdominal surgery and was released by the Palace to mark Mother’s Day.
But it was withdrawn with a “Kill” notice by international picture agencies hours later – and UK’s PA news agency on Monday – because of suspicions it had been digitally altered.
Concerns were raised over a missing part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her skirt, with other speculation including the positioning of Kate’s zip.
The picture was released to reassure the public amid escalating conspiracy theories online over the state of Kate’s health in recent weeks, but the controversy – dubbed “Kategate” and “Sleevegate” – has been labelled an “extraordinary” turn of events.
Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy group Republic, said: “If the palace can’t offer a simple, innocent explanation then ‘Kategate’ is going to cause the monarchy serious damage.”
“The manipulation of an image that the palace says was taken by William is extraordinary.
“If true it is a deliberate attempt to deceive the public.”
READ MORE: King bestows highest honour in Scotland on Duke of Edinburgh
The picture shows Kate sitting in a chair with her arms around Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are on either side of her, with Prince George standing behind, as all four smile at the camera.
In the social media post, Kate thanked the public “for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months”.
Royal commentator Peter Hunt said: “This is damaging for the royals.
“They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate.
“Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel