It's been over a week since the rumour mill went into overdrive with rumblings of the Princess of Wales' whereabouts and what was really going on with her health. The family eventually conceded to public pressure and released a photograph of Kate Middleton and her three children, which was then found to have been edited, a charge she eventually copped to.
Not only did Kate's admission of guilt pour gasoline on the fire, but it also fuelled the conspiracies that have plagued the couple since the Princess had 'planned abdominal surgery' in January. In a move understood by many to be a way of the Waleses assuaging the public's concerns about Kate's wellbeing, the couple were allegedly spotted shopping at a farm shop in Windsor yesterday.
Just as quickly as the initial edited family photograph of the Waleses was released on March 10, it was mysteriously removed from various news agenies over concerns that it had been manipulated. Buckingham Palace remained silent as Getty, Associated Press, Reuters and AFP quietly removed the image and advised clients to remove it from all their platforms. The image does, however, remain on the family's public Instagram account.
‘At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,’ AP said in a notice to customers. ‘Clients please be advised that the following story has been killed and should no longer be used’.
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The picture, believed to have been taken by Prince William in Windsor, was released by the royal family to mark Mother’s Day on March 10, but it didn’t take long for confusion to begin swirling that the sleeve of Princess Charlotte’s cardigan did not line up, with eagle-eyed royal fans suggesting it had suffered an editing fail. It was also flagged that Kate appears to have not been wearing her engagement ring, which previously belonged to Princess Diana. In the post, Kate said: ‘Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. C.’
A mere matter of hours after AP issued the 'kill notice' to news agencies, on March 11, Kate shared another message to hers and Prince William's official X account. ‘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. C.’
But the statement did little to quell the public's confusion. Unlike almost every other official royal photograph, it was a case of now you see it, now you don’t. It was a glaring example of a royal crisis in the age of misinformation and artificial intelligence. And here’s the catch: what was meant to quiet the concerns of the public that all was not well for the Waleses, instead fuelled further conspiracy theories as to the wellbeing of the princess. The overarching belief, given the photograph’s swift removal, is that there actually is something to be concerned about now. That, just as the photograph is rumoured to have been edited, so too is the royal family’s messaging about the princesses’ health.
The press engines of the royal family are believed to still be in overdrive as to how to handle the fallout from the photograph’s removal, but the take-home is that there is no way to soothe the public's insatiable appetite for gossip. If you concede to public pressure, rather than immunise yourself from further scrutiny, you instead further stoke the flames of speculation. So how exactly are women supposed to win?
As the princess continues to heal from her surgery, the questions that we should really be dealing with are the expectations of those in the public eye, namely women, and how we marry those with giving them the space that they need to live a fair and honest private life.
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Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
