Well, that did not go as planned. For a moment there, all the conspiracy theories and speculation about Kate Middleton‘s vanishing act appeared to dry up in an instant when the royal family shared a happy family snap on the Princess of Wales’ social media pages for Mother’s Day in the U.K.
And then the internet exploded with intrigue once again when a closer look at the pic revealed that it had been extensively edited, casting the veracity of the whole thing in doubt. AP even issued a kill notice on the use of the photo as it broke regulations over digitally altered images. In a shocking move, an official response was released — signed “C” for Princess Catherine” — claiming that Kate herself had “experiment[ed] with editing” on the photo, “like many amateur photographers do.”
So what began as an innocent family portrait of Kate and her kids, one which seemed to put all our fears and theories to bed, has ended up kickstarting a new wave of intense speculation on the princess’ top-secret situation. So what in the name of Windsor went wrong?
Every error in the Kate Middleton Mother’s Day photo
In short, what went wrong with the Mother’s Day pic of Kate and her kids is that it was a poorly put-together photo. As the palace really should’ve expected from the first official shot of Kate since Christmas, it was intensely scrutinized. Immediately, people noticed that the princess wasn’t wearing her wedding ring, which some thought could point to marital problems between her and William.
However, things became much stranger when people drew their attention away from Kate’s hand to her daughter, Charlotte’s. Alarmingly, the photo depicts Charlotte’s wrist as not fully connecting to the rest of her arm. And we thought Kate had health problems!
Speaking of Charlotte, some are mystified how the young princess’ hair is so much longer than it appeared when she attended church on Dec. 25.
As for Charlotte’s younger brother Louis, there are some curious elements to his presence in the photo too. For one, the pattern on the right arm of his jumper is oddly disjointed.
Even stranger, he seems to have lost half a finger since Christmas.
Turning their attention to the background of the image, Brits couldn’t fail to notice the unseasonably green leaves on the tree by the window.
It’s also been claimed that this tree was cut down from in front of the family residence last November.
So what’s going on with the Kate Middleton Mother’s Day photo?
OK, so something seriously fishy is going on with this image? But what’s the truth behind it? Has it been photoshopped? Is it an old photo? Or was it simply generated wholesale by AI?
Going by the expert opinion of the many photographers who have weighed into the controversy, the leading estimate seems to be that it’s either a composite of several different photos from the same session or else a photo that was augmented with AI cloning software.
The New York Times, TIME, and National Geographic photographer Patrick Whitty argued on X, “My guess is that it was taken with the Google Pixel 8, with the ‘Best Take’ feature, which chooses the “best face” for each person and automatically merges them into one photo.” That’s not a bad guess, but it’s believed that William and family are all iPhone users rather than Google customers.
Freelance photographer Paul Bevan was less concerned, tweeting: “I don’t think it’s dodgy. Someone was trying to clean the photo up a bit and used the clone tool and did not use it very well and they were pushed for time to get the photo out. I’d like to see the original version.”
As for Jon Mills, Group Picture Editor of SWNS, he informed MailOnline that the photo was certainly not supplied by someone in the business. “However the Palace ended up releasing this particular image it’s really clumsy editing,” he said. “It wasn’t done by a professional.” On the other hand, he believes that ultimately the photo tells the truth:
‘But the quality of the image is consistent so my best guess is that elements from images taken at a single shoot were combine,” Mills continued. “It probably shows the pressure the Prince of Wales is under to show his family in the best light rather than any attempt to deceive.”
Even with this assurance, it’s clear that we’re going to have to keep on waiting for some piece of evidence that can unequivocally assure the world that Kate Middleton is doing OK and there’s nothing to worry about.