Princess of Wales apologizes for ‘confusion’ over altered Mother’s Day photo

LONDON - Catherine, the Princess of Wales, said she altered an official photo and expressed her “apologies for any confusion” that may have been caused after it was retracted by global news agencies over concerns it had been doctored.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Catherine said in a post on Monday morning. “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,” she wrote in a message posted on Kensington Palace’s social media account. It was signed, “C,” for Catherine.

The photo of Catherine was published Sunday morning. She was shown sitting on a chair, surrounded by her three smiling children. It seemed like an attempt to reassure Britons and quell wild rumors and conspiracy theories that have surrounded the princess since she stepped back from public duties following abdominal surgery.

It did not have that effect.

Global news agencies - including Reuters, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press - asked their clients Sunday evening to withdraw the image, with some citing a problem with the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and wrist. Others on social media flagged what they said were oddities, like the positioning of Prince Louis’s hands and the zipper on Catherine’s jacket.

Hours earlier, Kensington Palace released the photo of Catherine, the first official royal photograph of the princess since her surgery. Prince William and Catherine often release photos of their family on major occasions, such as Christmas or their children’s birthdays. Often it is Catherine, a keen photographer, behind the camera.

The palace said that William took the photo earlier in the week at their home in Windsor. The press release accompanying the photo asked that news outlets not alter the image “in any manner or form,” but it did not mention that the image had already been altered.

On Sunday evening, the Associated Press issued a “kill notification,” an industry term, for anyone using the photo, saying in an alert to journalists that on “closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.”

In an updated story on the photo, the AP said it showed an “inconsistency in the alignment” of Charlotte’s hand. The AP added that it had issued a retraction because “the source had manipulated the image” in a way that did not meet photo standards. A Reuters spokesperson said the photo was withdrawn after a post-publication inspection and added that the organization was “reviewing the matter.”

The Press Association (PA), the United Kingdom’s biggest news agency, retracted the picture on its service Monday morning. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said that in the “absence” of clarification from the palace, it was withdrawing the image. The royal family often releases official information via PA, which is then distributed to other media outlets. PA said that Kensington Palace, a London residence of Prince William and Catherine, would not be reissuing the original unedited photograph of Catherine and her children.

Media outlets worldwide, including The Washington Post, ran the photo. The Post has since removed the image from its original story.

The photo’s release came after weeks of speculation about Catherine’s whereabouts spiraled on social media.

Kensington Palace announced in January that she would probably not resume official duties before April and that it would provide updates on her health only when there was “significant new information to share.” The palace also said Catherine was recovering at her home in Windsor.

The palace is typically tight-lipped when it comes to royal health, but the lack of recent photographs or updates nonetheless fueled wild rumors about her well-being and whereabouts.

Her last public appearance was on Christmas Day, when she was photographed attending a church service in Sandringham.

The photo of Catherine released on Sunday, Mother’s Day in Britain, was dated 2024 in Kensington Palace’s post.

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

Dickie Arbiter, a former spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II, assessed that sharing the manipulated photo was an “innocent, naive mistake” by Catherine, who subsequently “owned up to it.”

He said he doubted that the palace or Catherine, who is one of Britain’s most popular royals, would take a hit for the blunder. “I don’t think the public are offside at all,” he said.

Royal biographer Catherine Mayer was sympathetic - to a point.

“Royal press management isn’t easy,” Mayer wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “No palace job is. You’re working for people with limited real-world experience & unlimited decision-making power. There is (or should be) a line between royals’ private lives & public role. But this doesn’t explain serial mistakes in royal comms.”

The picture was “unsettling in ways beyond those identified,” she wrote. “Yes, one idea of monarchy is that it should project an idealised vision of the population. Another is that they should reflect it. The glossiness of the image stands at odds with the latter, more superhuman than human.”

She added: “If the royals really want to model important values to the nation, they should start by overhauling their approach to media in favour of transparency & scrupulous honesty. They should stand against disinformation, not contribute to it.”

The British royal family has long been an expert at image projection - Queen Elizabeth II, who used to wear brightly colored outfits for her public appearances, once said that “I have to be seen to be believed.”

These projections have been especially important when the royals have not been making public appearances.

Even though King Charles III has largely been out of the public eye since Buckingham Palace announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer, the royal Instagram account has been buzzing with posts - since his diagnosis, the palace has posted images of the king holding Zoom chats with foreign leaders and greeting ambassadors behind closed doors. In a video montage, he is seen reading “get well” letters. On Sunday, the royal Instagram account posted a decades-old photo of Charles kissing his mother’s hand.

On Monday, the royal family took part in the annual Commonwealth Day ceremony, a major set-piece event in the royal diary. While Prince William and Queen Camilla attended in person, Charles’s address was delivered with a prerecorded video message.