After news agencies issued a “kill order” for a photo of Kate Middleton and her family released Sunday, the Princess of Wales herself admitted in a Monday apology on X that she digitally altered the image.
The photo caused a ruckus online over the weekend, coming as Middleton’s health and whereabouts have been under intense scrutiny, following abdominal surgery she had in January.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she wrote. “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 princess signed the message with a simple “C,” indicating that it came from her, as it was posted on the official account for The Prince and Princess of Wales.
In case you missed the photo itself, Kensington Palace released it on Sunday for Mother’s Day (celebrated in the UK on March 10) showing the royal with her three children: Princes George, Louis and Princess Charlotte. But, viewers quickly spotted signs of photo manipulation, and called it out, resulting in swift takedown of the image.
Within hours of its release, photo agencies including the Associated Press and the Agence France-Presse had issued kill notices on it, citing manipulation by the source — in this case, the palace — and banned their online services from sharing the photo.
It’s exceedingly uncommon for an admission like this to come, prompting even more confusion online, with many fans of the royals speculating that Middleton didn’t actually write the message herself.
“This has, in absolutely no way whatsoever, made this bizarre situation any better,” one person wrote, with another replying “Zero chance this is true.”
