Kate Apologizes for Photo Edits. Where is the Line Between Her Private Life and Her Duty to the Public?
The whole story of Kate's Mother's Day message gone wrong, and my thoughts on the line between public and private, news and idealized social media.
Well this has been the most extraordinary 24 hour news cycle. Yesterday, as you know, Kensington Palace released a picture of Kate with her children to mark Mother’s Day. The photo was picture perfect. A beaming Princess of Wales sat on a chair surrounded by her three equally bright and smiling children. After a two-month absence, and a crazy few weeks of wild speculation about her health, Kate’s smiling face served as a reassurance to fans and foes alike. The Princess of Wales was just fine.
Inevitably, the photo was scrutinized. It did not take long for people to notice that the picture had been photoshopped in some way, and indeed, there was a clear inconsistency around Princess Charlotte’s wrist, noted later by the Telegraph below:
The “Kill Notice.”
Discussion about that inconsistency and speculation about other potential changes were being chattered about pretty broadly online during the day Sunday. In keeping with the furor of the last few weeks, some of the theories were pretty wild, including accounts that were certain the entire picture was manufactured. I was completely unbothered. The social media pictures of the royals are always scrutinized by some fans. But then things shifted. Accounts on Twitter/X started reporting that the picture was being pulled. The Associated Press, Getty, and Agence France-Presse all issued “kill notices” Sunday night pulling the image from their distribution platforms and ordering it recalled from their social accounts.
I was dumbfounded. Photos are routinely touched up. Every advertising photo you ever see is photoshopped. All the released images from the royals are touched up. William and Kate’s wedding photos were demonstrably (at the time) “touched up.”
At first, the news simply spread on social that the “kill notice” had gone out because “[a]t closer inspection,” according to the AP, “it appears that the source has manipulated the image.” It seemed to suggest something sinister. Were the news agencies worried about whether the photo was genuine? Were they worried that Pippa sat in for Kate and the Princess’s face was photoshopped on? Was the Palace hiding something seriously wrong with Kate?
Various royal reports expressed their amazement. Although kill notices are not unprecedented, this was an extraordinarily high-profile one at an extremely sensitive time.
More agencies recalled the photo.
As formal reporting caught up with the social media talk, the AP’s reasoning was shared more broadly. A spokesman told The Telegraph: “The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.” Again, though, some of these types of edits have been present in pictures released by the Palace in the past. Why was this rather extraordinary step taken for these images? Did the news agencies know something? Suspect something? The hysteria mounted. Shutterstock and Reuters joined the first few outlets issuing kill notices, which added fuel to the flames.
I read, although I have not seen this confirmed from an official source, that