It’s been a week since Kate Middleton, along with the monarchy, was caught in a powerful storm. News organizations chose to take down the heavily doctored Mother’s Day photo that the Princess of Wales had shared on social media. Kensington Palace seems unwilling to share details or images of the future queen, making the mystery surrounding Kate ever more baffling.
There were multiple serious flaws in the Mother’s Day photo that was altered and shared last Sunday. Many royal enthusiasts and experts have been left perplexed by one of them, which showed Kate Middleton without her wedding ring. Conspiracy theories persist despite the photo having been altered, which could indicate that the ring has been removed.
The conspiracy theories are mostly being discussed and shared online, but they have also reached acquaintances of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Friends of the Prince and Princess of Wales are apparently stunned by the latest development, even though the palace has not verified, denied or even commented on anything about the future king and queen’s relationship.
Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day photo was found to have been doctored. Fans and royal experts were outraged by this, and the princess issued an apology the day after it was posted.
«Like many amateur photographers, I sometimes venture into editing. I wanted to apologise for any misunderstanding that may have arisen from our sharing of the family photo yesterday. I sincerely hope that Mother’s Day was enjoyed by all who participated. C,» Kate said in a social media message shared by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Kate Middleton modified her Mother’s Day photo.
It took several hours for social media users and photography professionals to analyze the photo, pointing out several errors and poor retouching techniques.
The Associated Press and Getty were among news organizations that sent out “takedown notices,” which are warnings to remove or not use a certain photo.
Renowned news organisation Agence France-Presse (AFP) was another to use a “takedown notice”. AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd claimed that Kensington Palace is no longer a reliable source while appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Media Show.
«No, not at all. The bar is raised when you are let down by a source, just like with anything else. According to Deadline, he stated: ‘We sent out notes to all of our teams to be absolutely more vigilant about the content that comes across our desk, even from what we would call trusted sources.’»
Chetwynd went on to say that on Sunday, several media outlets had asked Kensington Palace if it could provide the original image. However, he claims the image was removed because the agencies had not received a response.
Additionally, sources such as North Korea are often the targets of takedown notices, according to Chetwynd.
It is unusual to take something down for manipulation. We might do it once a year, maybe less. News agencies in Iran or North Korea were the sources of our previous takedowns, Chetwynd continued.
Kate posted the image on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account over a week ago. Since then, Instagram has opted to add an “altered photo” note to Kate Middleton’s manipulated Mother’s Day photo, in addition to the media outlet issuing a “takedown notice.”
There is a warning behind the Instagram post: “Altered photo/video. Independent fact-checkers have reviewed the same altered photo in a different post.
The alleged affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury.
Following the removal of the edited photo from news agency websites and the decision by news agency AFP to no longer accept Kensington Palace as a source, people on social media have been speculating about Kate Middleton’s whereabouts.
On Mother’s Day, Kate shared a photo that had been altered and included other editing errors. The fact that Kate Middleton chose not to wear her wedding ring, however, alarmed many because it suggested that Prince William and Kate Middleton’s union would permanently alter the future of the royal family.
Not least because of the rumours that surfaced five years ago.
First of all, it is crucial to emphasise that none of the information has been verified. The American magazine In Touch Magazine claimed in April 2019 that William “might” have had an affair with Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley and a friend of Kate.
William, Kate and Rose had a “feud,” which was covered by the tabloids. According to an article in In Touch, Kate had shown the reports to William, who had “dismissed” them, claiming the allegations were false.
Richard Kay, royal expert for The Daily Mail, refuted the reports at the time, stating that they were false information.
“All sides have considered legal action but have chosen to ignore it because none of the stories have been able to provide any evidence as to what the alleged conflict is. These false and hurtful rumors about a disagreement are false,” Kay wrote.