In response to worries regarding a photo that was shared on Sunday in honour of Mother’s Day featuring Princess Catherine and her three children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—Kensington Palace has issued an official statement.
Following inquiries about whether the photo had been digitally altered, the statement was made. The princess’s first public image following her abdominal surgery was captured by Prince William.
Photo: © The Prince of Wales
Princess Catherine posted the following on social media early on Monday morning: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
“I wanted to apologise for any misunderstanding that may have arisen from the family photo we shared yesterday. I sincerely hope that Mother’s Day was enjoyed by all who participated. C.”
“Minor adjustments” were made by the Princess of Wales, according to royal sources, and Catherine and Prince William wanted to give a casual photo of the family for Mother’s Day.
“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” said a source.
The PA news agency had earlier announced that it was taking the picture down from its picture service.
Since then, a representative for the national news agency has stated: “Like other news organisations, PA Media published the handout image of the Princess of Wales and her children that Kensington Palace provided in good faith yesterday.
Photo: © Instagram
“We reported on the image last night after learning of concerns regarding it, and we made it plain that we needed Kensington Palace to provide immediate clarification on the image. We are removing the image from our picture service in the lack of that clarification.”
According to the Associated Press website, “small edits to images are acceptable.” According to the website: “These consist of standard toning and colour adjustments, cropping, dodging and burning, converting into grayscale, and removing dust from camera sensors and scratches from scanned negatives or prints.
“These should only include the bare minimum required for accurate and clear reproduction and to bring back the original authenticity of the image. Density, contrast, colour, and saturation level adjustments that significantly change the original scene are not permitted.
“Digitally blurring or erasing backgrounds through aggressive toning or burning down are not recommended. Removing “red eye” from photos is not acceptable.
In the disputed photo, Catherine was seated and her three kids were all around her. Princess George, ten, is standing behind her, his arms encircling her neck. Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, are on either side of the princess.
Photo: © WPA Pool
“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” the mother of three wrote as the caption for the photo. Greetings on Mother’s Day to all. C.”
After complaining that Princess Charlotte’s cardigan’s sleeve did not line up, royal fans questioned whether the photo had been altered.
Due to suspicions that the image had been altered, worldwide photo agencies withdrew the picture later that day.
This was Catherine’s first public image since her scheduled surgery at the London Clinic on January 16. After being freed for two weeks, she went back to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor. It’s unlikely that the mother of three will resume her royal responsibilities until after Easter.
Royal author Robert Jobson, whose new biography Catherine, The Princess of Wales is published this summer, provided us with an update on Catherine’s health in the most recent issue of HELLO! magazine. He said, “From what I hear, Catherine has got into a routine again and is functioning well, but she doesn’t want to rush things.”
“I have spoken to people close to her and I think she is recovering well but is not quite a hundred per cent.”
Gary Goldsmith, Catherine’s uncle, defended the Waleses, saying they wouldn’t have been accountable for changing the picture. On Good Morning Britain, the Celebrity Big Brother evictee stated: “Obviously the family wouldn’t be the ones to do any touch-ups, so if that’s gone through some filter before it’s gone out to the broader world, but they wouldn’t be doing photoshopping themselves.”
Photo: © Getty Images
The man continued, “I thought it was beautiful how the smiles on people’s faces said it all for me. Additionally, just forget about the whole “sleevegate” thing.”
Following Princess Catherine’s remarks, Sky News reported that a review of the image’s meta data showed the picture was taken with a Canon camera and twice saved in Adobe Photoshop on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday.
The Princess, who is well-known for being an enthusiastic photographer, disclosed in 2021 that she occasionally gets complaints from her kids because she takes so many family photos.”Everyone’s like, ‘Mummy, please stop taking photographs.'” she replied.
