Sunday was Mother’s Day in the UK, and as I said in yesterday’s post, I believe Kensington Palace’s plan always involved releasing “the first photo” of the Princess of Wales since her mysterious abdominal surgery in January. Nevermind that odd paparazzi photo of Kate and Carole Middleton in Windsor last Monday, Kensington Palace barged ahead and released a photo of Kate and her three children and they expected that to be the end of months of speculation. They expected people to fall all over themselves with relief that Kate was well enough to wear jeggings and sit up in a chair.
The problems with the photo were evident immediately – many questioned when the photo was taken, many questioned Kate’s lack of rings (she wasn’t wearing Big Blue or her wedding band) and most of all, the pic was obviously Photoshopped. There were just too many inconsistencies, weird blurs and everyone’s hands just looked weird. Some even claimed that the pic might even be AI (I doubt it, but who knows). Well, last night, after hours of online speculation over the photo, several major news agencies took the extraordinary measure of “killing” the image.
It was meant to be a wholesome image to celebrate Mother’s Day in the UK, but a photo of Kate Middleton and her children has ended in controversy for the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Four major news agencies — Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters, and AFP — have pulled the photo from their libraries amid concerns it was manipulated by Kensington Palace.
AP issued a “kill notification” for clients, telling those who use its service that on “closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.” Reuters said it was deleting the picture after a post-publication review.
Do you know how major it is for even one new agency – let alone FOUR major agencies – to kill an image provided by Kensington Palace? This wasn’t “someone had qualms that a sleeve had been Photoshopped.” This is AFP, Getty, the AP and Reuters all saying that they can’t trust anything about the photo, that Kensington Palace is not a credible source for photos of the Princess of Wales. Besides that, what was meant as a big stunt to “prove” that Kate is fine has ended up fueling even more global speculation about Kate’s health and whereabouts. Kensington Palace is a f–king clownshow and William’s new private secretary doesn’t know what they hell he’s doing. It’s the blind leading the blind over there. As I’m writing this very early Monday morning, KP still hasn’t made a statement or explained WTF is going on. They’re panicking. Even their most loyal rota members are calling them out too. Also: Prince Huevo is due to appear at the Commonwealth Day service in several hours. Do you think he’ll cancel? I bet he does.
Update: Rebecca English says that Press Association has killed the image too, and that they (and other news outlets) sought “urgent clarification” from Kensington Palace on the image, but KP didn’t respond. My God.
And now this from @AFP 👇
“MANDATORY KILL-DUE TO AN EDITORIAL ISSUE THIS PHOTO NUMBER 000_34L82NW BRITAIN-ROYALS BY PRINCE OF WALES HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN FROM AFP SYSTEMS AND MAY NO LONGER BE USED IN ANY MANNER. PLEASE IMMEDIATELY REMOVE IT FROM ALL YOUR ONLINE SERVICES, STOP USING” pic.twitter.com/CXYA6cp2gQ— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 10, 2024
I suspect this was not the headline Kensington Palace was hoping to get from the normally supportive @Telegraph on Monday morning:
“Photo from Palace was doctored, say agencies”. pic.twitter.com/W7JxIgdlQA— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 10, 2024
Photo courtesy of Kensington Palace.
We all know their photos are photoshopped. That’s nothing new.
The first question is why is KP employing staff who are so incompetent that this photo was released.
Secondly it’s interesting to note that the photo credit was to the PoW for the first time. Someone made sure that his name was attached to it. Did everyone else refuse to take part in this ridiculous farce?
Karma is at play. Everyone is commenting on it. And they’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for years to say what they haven’t been able to
I think he probably signed off of it himself thinking it would make him look like a family man that is just oh so caring towards his poorly sick wife.
🤣 I can’t believe that they were so incompetent that media outlets were forced to kill the picture. Chloe, I agree that W seems dim enough to believe that saying he took this pic and actually posting it would be in his wheelhouse for the reasons you mentioned!
Kudos to Elvira and the rest who pointed out the obvious photo weirdnesses!
Was there something in the water yesterday? My husband pointed out Christian Horner’s tone-deaf Mother’s Day post to his wife as well and shared the hysterical F1 gossip that U2 (the guitarist’s SonIL is the brother of the woman CH had suspended) might be writing a diss track called “Don’t be horny, be Christian” which had us imagining U2 vs the Spice Girls.
He probably did just sign off thinking it made him look good and know Heuvo has heuvo all over his face.
@Susan Collins
do you mean “huevo”?
Maybe they’re trying to route the internet views to another story involving the word k I l l
K3 🤔
@Kathleen — we use a capital H in Huevo because it’s a royal egg…gotta show some respect dontcha know!
Yes Kathleen Huevo thinking faster than i can type.
W had to be the official photographer to ensure this level of photo manipulation. Can’t imagine a professional photographer risking their career for this hoax.
Pretty sure William has to be “the photographer” to explain why he isn’t in any photos with his wife.
Guys, in the Dutch news they’re saying that Kate has taken responsibility for doctoring this picture and apologized for “sometimes” using photoshop. Considering that William supposedly took the picture and he was supposedly the one who posted it, it’s “interesting” that Kate (who is recovering from serious surgery?) is once again in the spotlight instead. What is going on with William?
Maybe it wasn’t the staff who decided to post it.
This 👆! At some point, we have to stop blaming staff and reveal the true culprit. William is listed as the photog because no one else wanted their name attached to it. A professional photog would know that news agencies (who have to be very careful these days) would discover the manipulation.
Photoshopping is nothing new but it’s to the point that news agencies have to question its entire authenticity. Or they wouldn’t have pulled it. A mess and an embarrassment for KP. Bc William is the source! They named him as taking the picture😂 I’m betting an aide will be blamed on over photoshopping William’s pic.
They do always photoshop, which is why I’m not totally understanding why the Kill was necessary—which by all accounts is extremely scandalous, dramatic and rare. It’s basically a PR pic on insta.
A few things. It’s beyond their usual photoshop which is already pretty bad. But also the BM has let them get away with it in the past, like Louis and James being photoshopped into that grandchildren pic with the queen. The BM lulled them into thinking they were safe. And they mostly were as long as it stayed in the BM. But this time there was international interest and the picture was given to international outlets who would not play ball. That’s why it was killed. AP news wasn’t going to have their integrity questioned by using a clearly doctored photo whereas the BM likely would have let it slide, as they have done in the past. And now both KP and the BM look silly bc yeah they’ve been called out.
This is what I’m getting at. I frankly think this is such a big news story in itself that the AP owes the public an account of why they made the decision. Are they aware of additional facts, beyond what has been reported, that make the picture particularly untrustworthy. Has the AP never reported on a photoshopped photo before? Maybe they actually don’t, I don’t know.
@snagglettoth We have to give it up one comment from yesterday that kids wear the same dress as dec outing. Because when you see kate and rest wear the same dress and the photo was manipulated with color of the dress etc. For examples last time char wore some jean skirt thats why there is a weird thing with her skirt in new photo , same as louis sweater same weirdness and if you look closely George caller of the shirt is artificially painted blue and kate wear same boots and her thighs area intentionally looks darker and her face is from 2017 Christmas photo where everyone wore blue before louis born. Check yourself she has the same face because in recent year no way her face comes near where near this. Also char boots one has heels and other doesnt. No way any reputable agency will take this much doctored image.
I read elsewhere that the AP requested the unedited photo and they got no response from KP. They see obvious photoshopping and cannot compare it to the source. These are credible news orgs that do not want to publish manipulated photos. British media has lost credibility along with KP.
@ JK Oh I know it’s doctored. My real question is: has a dam broken with news agencies. I just feel like they’ve been stenographers for these folks before—even international press has published these glossy, heavily tampered-with family portraits with everyone photoshopped together (The queen did a really bad one right before she died). Does the AP know something additional and is that why they are putting their foot down with this pic.
@Snaggletooth: I’m no expert on photoshopping matters, but in this case I’m thinking that the agencies issued the “kill” notices because it’s one thing to photoshop pictures in the ordinary manner, meaning to present an image to people to convey that you’re the “fairest or skinniest of them all.” However, when you’re releasing what is essentially a “proof of life” or “of good health” photo that’s been photoshopped extensively within an inch of its life, or seemingly photoshopped for no reason, then it no longer serves its intended purpose, which was to show or prove that Kate was currently doing well, or was on the mend, when the picture was recently taken. If people doubt when the picture was taken, where they were, or if that was an accurate depiction of the main subject (Kate) as she looked one week ago, then what’s the use of showing the picture? Once again, KP has shown it’s incompetent.
I think they issued the kill order because the photo is untrustworthy and they don’t want to be held accountable for distributing it down the line.
for example – if Kate is in such bad shape currently that her attendance at Trooping is in serious doubt – and it comes out in 6 months that Kate spent 3 months bedbound or in a wheelchair etc – AP doesn’t want people to look back and say “but on March 10th she looked fine.”
This isn’t about touching up a sleeve or whatever.
@ Becks1 I agree. This isn’t about smoothing out wrinkles. News agencies are basically saying this pic is a boldface lie and I maintain, because of the unusual nature of the kill and because this is a proof of life photo, that the agency ombudsman owes the public an account of the standards they used to come to this decision and why the facts in this case merited the kill. The exact reason they did this is news worthy, not just some implication that it’s photosphopped.
Exactly! If it had just been a couple of little standard things they always do for photos this wouldn’t have gotten killed by all these agencies. Something’s up in Kensington.
@Snaggletooth, apparently it really was pulled because, when asked to do so, KP couldn’t or wouldn’t share the original photo. Which suggests that there is no original (it’s mostly composite) or that the timestamp would reveal it wasn’t taken last week.
I wonder if it’s not really the editing in question, but the date of the photo.
This is not about minor photoshopping @Original Penguin. That’s why the word, ‘manipulated,’ was used in the press releases by the photo agencies. The issue goes way beyond slight photoshopping (and this photo is not minor photoshopping). It is about matters of trust, authenticity, and credibility.
oh I completely agree and the fallout is delicious
I wonder if the fact that (as others have pointed out) the image is an amalgam of shots from pro photog in 11/23 and it’s credited to Baldy 2024 have anything to do with the kill? There’s “editing” and then there’s “lying.” Huevo is cracked.
I worked at a news agency and on top of issues of manipulation, it has everything to do with how they file photos. Their captions have to accurately depict date, time, location and source, and they can’t credibly “date” the photo to store in their archives if they can’t prove that said photo was taken on that date. This photo is a fake, and that’s why it was killed.
Kate apologized…..for “Will’s” photo. Hahaha they made Kate apologize for this mess…where is Prince Drinks-a-lot’s apology
I was predicting some hapless aide would get the blame but Kate was just thrown to the wolves. Omg
Hold up — what’s her condition now? Is she even aware that picture was released? How can she be made to apologize if she doesn’t know what she’s apologizing for? Something stinks.
@Carmen — I imagine the “Kate” who apologized is some KP lackey who OK’d this mess in the first place and is trying madly to cover their tracks.
Shambles! The end is near! Popcorn!
Right. But the level of embiggening and excuse-making for the royal firm among mainstream media in Great Britain is disgusting. Unfortunately, I don’t yet see the willful covering up for the royals ending. Not until royalist panderers are clobbered over the head with the real, stark, messy truths that KP and BP operatives are trying so hard to hide. When/ if that’s going to happen is uncertain, still.
I really don’t understand why people keep using the word “incompetent” to describe a deliberate attempt by KP to fool the public, while expecting their invisible contract to cover them. Did you guys not see the rota rat’s leader, Refrigerator English, attacking folks for question the very obvious photoshopping? If you remain accustomed to believing a single word that comes from the palace (both BP and KP) and their press minions, then the joke’s on you! I’m glad the interwebs has not fallen for their attempts to bully people out of asking simple questions about Kate’s disappearance.
Exactly. This “incompetence” is on purpose, and it is covering up something far worse than amateur photoshopping and crappy PR.
You know it’s gone big, when NPR’s Scott Simon tweets about it! 😆
https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/1767141128954941920?s=61&t=9TaAsfwrl1H_hiFD2SEi3A
That’s adorable!!!!!
How cute!! Let’s imagine one from Willbur:
It’s not my photo
And it’s not my fault either
It was the Sussex’s fault!
This *is* AI generated: hands are a problem in AI generated images; even if photoshopped to hell no intern would ever do such a mess without realizing it, pretty sure Kate didn’t have anything to do with it, and Prince Huevo, don’t think he knows how to use it. If it were someone responsible, or even if it were possible to find a patsy they would have fired someone this morning. They didn’t because they couldn’t. Being AI generated is the only reason to put Kate name on it, because, even if they aren’t blaming it on Peg, they are nonetheless blaming it on the mother of a FK, which is very serious matter.
AI generated and probably approved in a frenzy by willy nilly, without any care or analysis. No I don’t think they had this ready since a long time, and I don’t believe there was never any plan. They seem not to have a plan, which I believe means Chuck left Peg on his own. Peg probably asked for and approved an AI generated photo, I could see it being in his style. And Kate, I don’t believe she has any say in anything anymore, I don’t think she signed s**, her chance of being one day a divorced photographer are in the toilet now, and she would have never..
If there were an original, it would pop out, with a better editing, it won’t
My questions were why this photo and why now? Not the pap photo with the five & a half tires? Not the most-recent Christmas photo? This one? And who’s throwing William under the karma bus?
Oh this has Willbur’s eggy little hands all over it. He would have to have signed off on it as it states he’s the one who took the photo, KP couldn’t just release it without his approval. This is probably one of the most ham-fisted blunders KP has ever pulled. The hits just keep on coming!!
Kates head on Pippas body?
With that goiter/adam’s apple jutting out at the neck?🤔
Royal MESSSSSSSS, I love it.
Hope you get some rest later, Kaiser! 🙂
I laughed my ass off when I saw these headlines this morning! And immediately thought of Kaiser’s Oscar night workload doubling in an instant.
Even my royalist mother thinks this situation stinks to high heaven from W&K. I love this for them honestly.
Keep saying we’re all crazy and there’s nothing to see here though, Kate stans.
It’s such a mess, I could actually believe for real that the Monarchy will end when this dim-witted man-child is crowned. Harry was so lucky to get most of his mother’s genes… it seems more and more that Will got 2000 years worth of stupid genes. I will take a picture, photoshop it so badly a child could see it was fake and no one will notice! Lol it is so delicious.
Diana’s father was a nightmare and her paternal grandfather worse and part of the reason I’m actually a bit worried for Kate.
William pulled off the impressive trick of inheriting the worst traits of both sides. So much of this sounds like nonsense Spencer pulled.
I mean, Diana’s father literally forced her mother out of the children’s lives. Just because he could. Between his entitled, never accountable upbringing and his genetics, William is the heir from hell.
I don’t think it’s pure inheritance, genetics at this point. There’s some “after 40 you’re responsible for your own face” and “use it or lose it” at play.
The Prince of Wales has chosen to cultivate a very narrow range of interests, activities, behaviors. He’s held himself to the lowest of performance standards and now has lost the perspective and ability to do anything else. He’s chosen this persona and this attitude and is going to sink the whole institution with his lack of anything worthwhile or appealing.
Hope the Tories are happy with their purchase… no refunds, no exchanges, guys.
Whyforthelove: thank you for “dim-witted man-child”. That is so on the nose.
Diana’s grandmother lady f e r m o y was the worst. Lady f e r m o y testified against her own daughter frances spencer so she would lose much access to her children. Then lady fermoy openly backed charles when charles and diana separated.
When I saw the kill order, I knew this blog would make one post about it. But they made three! 😀
I am not sure if william will cancel but if he does it sure won’t quell any gossip. I would love to be a fly on the wall at KP though right now. While i still expect that kate will probably return after easter, this was an incredibly stupid move on their part.
And KP won’t make a statement about this. They’ll just hope it will blow over. I am so happy we now have it in writing that KP is not necessarily a trusted source. King charles and Camilla must be laughing their heads off.
I don’t think he will show up! He will be bombarded with questions and he is quickly losing the power to stop them.
Of course I thought it was unlikely he would show up before all of this so photo gate will just seal the deal.
Oh but I hope he does show up and then we get some bad off the cuff comment that he of course will think was brilliant to laugh over! Don’t let us down egg!!
If he does show up he definitely won’t comment on anything. As far as i can remember the royals don’t do walk about’s after the CW day event and the press is always at a safe distance. I want him to show up so we can look at his body language. He is probably pissed off and i don’t think he’s able to hide that very well.
“We are definitely not a photoshopping family.”
@Equality, I am laughing so hard at your comment
It will be very hard for him to cancel now. That would only incite more speculation and further damage William’s credibility which is now in tatters. He’s gotta be there or prepare for a right royal roasting.
Brassy Rebel- I think he might cancel. Probably not, but since will is seemingly in his – I’m a big boy, I’m in charge, you can’t tell me what to do!!!- era – since his grandma died and he hates his dad. I think the possibility is he may. 🤷♀️
Also *if* whatever happened to cause him to miss the memorial service comes up again today, which may or may not have included day drinking alone, he could be forced to miss it.
Staggering around in church is a bad look.
No one around to jerk sense into him with his grandparents gone and the duchy money funding him independently.
If W does show, a big IF, I fear he will trot out George and possibly Charlotte as a buffer.
OMG William is going to be rare form at the CW service. He’s got to have been shrieking and raging all night.
No way Kate had anything to do with that apology they put out under her name.
I hope this gets legitimate (aka not British) news organizations on the investigation of how Kate is doing. I DO NOT want to know her medical records but clearly KP has her locked down and even a mean girl should not be abused in secret by that horrible family and their handlers/the gray suit men. I hope she is at Middleton Manor with her parents and has access to her kids.
If he does show it’ll be fascinating to watch how everyone else in the church responds to him. They won’t all be able to control their faces. I want to see how Anne looks at him.
The first thing that stood out to me was Kate being in skinny jeans. I had an open myomectomy (which is major abdominal surgery) late last summer and I could barely even wear sweatpants that hit above my belly button two months post-op, let alone jeans of any kind. Everyone recovers differently, but it’s hard to imagine someone being able to squeeze into jeans like hers so soon after an abdominal surgery, which makes me further question when this pic was allegedly taken 🤔
Or maybe she didn’t have “abdominal” surgery.
I saw something on ITV last night two of the rats were talking about a possible divorce or she might not even with us anymore. I went back to look for it on X but I couldn’t find it. What a sh… show thank goodness Harry & Meghan are not there anymore. The squad doesn’t have to do much anymore these people are basically digging themselves deep into a hole. They are truly reaping what they sow for what they did to Meghan.
Yes! Not to mention keeping thighs tight while also keeping feet and ankles together, while also keeping arms up around children. Try it now! It’s hard, even for people with no recent surgery or stitches!
The first thing I noticed about the dodgy photo was Kate’s hands are clearly photoshopped from images of her holding a thin clutch purse. You literally cannot put your hands like that around another body. Where are her thumbs? Are her children paper thin?
It really begs the question… what is Willy trying to hide that this farce was the only option?
Also if you zoom in to the shadow on Kate’s neck there is an actual smiling mouth there, teeth and all…
A myomectomy via laparotomy is a tough recovery based on my experience. I underwent one (with a vertical incision) when I was 25 years old and the recovery process was brutal. Although I was back at work after 3 weeks as I’d used up all my paid leave and vacation time. It took about 6 months for me to feel better and after post op, I could only wear dresses along with a belly band.
That was my take as well. If you had this massive abdominal surgery, most likely you’d wear clothes loose on the stomach. Tight pants are the least ideal choice, if only for the effort implied to put them on.
Also, my impression was she is being propped up by her children. Only then I started noticing the weird hand photoshopping.
I’d believe the pic was taken by William bc it was obviously taken from a really high point and he’s very tall. But obviously they doctored her face and how her kids are the ones keeping her in upright position.
Nunya, I had to look up myomectomy (painful surgery for fibroids). I hope you have recovered well; I’m sorry that you were in so much pain.
Thank you! Doing much better now and it was definitely worth it. It is a beast of a surgery/recovery though. It’s been 7 months since my surgery and I still get a little achy in my abdomen every once in a while and have to avoid waistbands that would press on my bikini cut incision. Hence my disbelief over the skinny jeans lol
This. I once had a fairly minor laparoptic procedure (ie, a few days, not weeks) in the hospital, minimal suturing – and even then, the idea of TIGHT PANTS, jeans, ighh anything remotely stiff or clingy while I was still recovering makes me cringe, even now.
I seems like they could have released a real photo taken ages ago to remind ppl how cute the kids are or whatever and been halfway honest about it being older bc she is still recovering (fair enough), rather than this farce, and it would have been better than this.
OMG yes I had an abdominal infection and I was so tender I wore pajama pants for months. So obviously fake.
@Nunya, I didn’t know they did open myomectomies! Was it because the fibroid was too large?
I had an abdominal hysterectomy over a year ago due to a huge fibroid (I was told myomectomy was not an option) and I still can’t wear jeans. Rather unluckily, I suffered nerve damage in the abdomen and also have terrible adhesions. I have learned to love sack dresses.
Kate could have worn the maternity skinny jeans left over from one of her pregnancies, with a big comfy elastic panel.
I don’t know. Even that may have been too constricting. Having had major abdominal surgery myself, all l could tolerate was loose-fitting clothing. And forget about getting into skinny jeans, jostling your tummy area with the effort of bending and pulling those jeans up would have been excruciating. And an elastic panel stretched over that sore area would have been way too uncomfortable as well.
I was thinking the same. I’ve had major abdominal surgery and took a solid 3-4 months to recover. I wore so many empire waist dresses for so long I can’t even look at that style anymore.
This is extremely odd.
They always photoshop.
I wouldn’t be surprised it’s more doubt of the date(see the trees) and/or if that’s actually her in the pic.
I don’t think the regular photoshopping would warrant a kill notice.
Nostradamus’s predictions are looking more likely by the day.
They always photoshop but in this instance the picture had been photoshopped to such a degree that the authenticity of it is questionable. That is why AP sent the kill notification. They couldn’t establish it’s authenticity. AP does allow for subtle enhancement and editing of pictures.
Exactly. Kate is the most photographed and the most photoshopped woman in the world, but the photoshop on this is off the charts. Her face is incredibly gauzed up to me. It makes one think she must be looking entirely different in real life – she obviously doesn’t want anyone near her with a lens. This is her choice of course. But why do this when a message and updates via William would’ve been enough? And why imply it’s all hiking boots and jeans after her supposed surgery? I’d be insulted if I’d recovered from similar.
I think AP must have more information. This is what makes me think it is straight up AI, that someone from KP leaked that she’s desperately ill/actually in a coma so the pic isn’t possible. It’s not like it’s a picture purporting to be from the front lines of a war zone by a journalist—aka something that has absolutely no photoshop. This is an insta pic that is semi-private/casual. So would it usually be journalistically problematic, even if there’s a little photoshop? I think the implication is that it’s much much worse.
It’s not AI. It’s probably multiple photo’s layered over one another to create the best possible photo. Which i find strange. The kids are old enough by now that they can stand still for a few minutes to take a good picture. You can just take a few pics until there’s a good one. Just goes to show how obsessed KP is with image and how things look.
I read that the issue is KP would not provide the original unedited pic.
I can see them publishing edited pics (as they clearly have been for years- the Christmas pic is equally messily done), but W&K being so squirrelly about any current untouched pics being released have caused them this issue here.
Kate can’t function without photoshop – she looks dreadful without it and has for years. But the level here is alarming for someone so “seriously ill” and supposedly out of action for months. I don’t get the clothing choice at all. Someone said above it could be a matter of semantics – William took it to be published last week, rather than took the photo last week. It’s Louis’ missing finger for me – why would they publish a weird photo of his hand after all the rubbish flung at them for Louis’ missing finger in their Christmas card. So the conclusion is she’s so ill she won’t let anyone take a photo at all, even her husband who would send it to be edited.
Image on twitter where people drew red circles around obvious photoshopping where all over. The only one who I haven’t seen anyone say was photoshopped is George. But Kate, Charlotte, Louis, the tile on the ground, the windows behind them, all have multiple signs of photoshopping. I don’t know what triggers the AP to ask for an original photo, just guessing here that it looks like more than 50-75% of the photo has been manipulated and that triggered the request and why it was ignored the Kill directive. Worth noting the request must for the original photo must have been ignored because this is a combo of many different pics.
Someone wrote in the other post today that George’s collar was artificially re-colored. Compared with his outfit on the December baby bank outing, this could be covering up the checked collared shirt he had on under that same sweater.
I find Luis’ pic where he has his fingers crossed interesting. It looks like a Freudian slip; someone’s real feelings where they hope they don’t get caught in this lie.
Couldn’t have happened to a “nicer” bunch. For someone like them with all the resources and influence available to them they sure just squander it. The institution is truly a waste and not fit for the modern world.
Also congratulations KP they made the global news!
Just maybe not in the way they planned.
Or is it staff sabotaging?
I really get the feeling that someone was so fed up that they just stopped resisting or discouraging the publication of this manipulation, knowing full well that the photo would not survive scrutiny, attributing authorship to PoW…
I sometimes wonder if republicans infiltrated KP to overthtrow the monarchy. Sabotage from within…
This exploding in all UK news (including radio) as we speak.Before my morning school run it was all over tiktok and twitter and in my local radio station as well What a poop storm hahaha. And KP on radio silence
So naive of KP. Hope Katie and kids are okay regardless 🙏
Here with the popcorn for the next installment
@Ewissa, hmmm …school run, did you say? Did you know that the school run belongs to William?! He’s a superstar hands on parent when it comes to school runs! Did you happen to see him dashing about with the kids? Now don’t you go pulling focus! He won’t like that! 😜
Oh my goodness @Ewissa…. you had to do the school run? You must be exhausted!!
Hahaha yes school run, unfortunately I have to do that dreadful thing 2x a day…trust me if I could I would have them in boarding school lol sitting in the traffic or getting to parking spot earlier is not my favourite past time
@Ewissa, you must need a six week vacation to rest!
I think this whole debacle is an insight into how removed from reality PW is. He’s clearly never been told ‘no’ his whole life. He’s in charge of all this. Maybe staff advised against it and he’s just continued bowling through thinking he knows best against all educated advice. I am SO enjoying watching this all explode in their faces. 🍿
Do you know what makes me say “good grief, really!”? They have all the money in the world and yet they put out this photo. What paltry level of tech and editorship are they using when it’s been pulled apart by everyone, from armchair watchers to professional photographers.
…re:money, like 6 months ago I got the impression that Prince Huevo slashed/took away Kate’s budget for clothing&make-up, because she started to look, to me, like she was wearing wrinkled clothes, amateur make-up (more than usual)
That plus the really bad masonry work we see beneath their feet. Did you notice? Lots of people were pointing out the bad photoshop & all I could see was p*ss-poor workmanship. Did Kate do that herself? Her mom? I thought the same thing about the window muntins–that’s either sloppy painting or sloppy puttying, but whatever it is they’ve got enough money to hire the best so why didn’t they?
I used photoshop and Facetune, and a few other photo editing programs – just looked at how to videos etc.
Even though I’ve only seen this image on my phone, it’s an extremely amateur and rushed edit job!!!
I feel like it was definitely not done on photoshop but a much easier replacement app but maybe they did it on a small laptop or even phone, then they couldn’t even see their mistakes.
Because if you learn photoshop, even the basics, it’s soooooo easy to do a better job than this, align edges and don’t use the blur tool. Or find similar images to past different ‘cut out body parts’ lol… or even drop the resolution if the main image to not have blur differences .
Must be done by Kate or her bad assistant! No photographer or photographic editor (even if not professional) would be this bad at editing?!
I doubt Kate had anything to do with this photo being edited or posted.
No, Kate didn’t have anything to do with this.
I bet something is really, really wrong that Carole resulted to publishing her version of photo one week prior.
The Telegraph in the UK has announced that Waity has admitted, “that like many amateur photographers, she experiments with editing”. Wow, just wow. I thought she allegedly photographed her mother’s tat for professional catalogues and the website, yet she couldn’t discern how bad this little proof of life family photo was?
I’m no fan of hers, but I seriously don’t believe that Kittykat had anything to do with this, at all. That so-called apology reminds me of that statement baring Harry’s signature and absolving William of bullying, that Harry had nothing to do with. Unfortunately, I can’t muster the energy to feel sorry for her at all. She helped to set the foundation for this kind of lie. Over the years, she’s made it clear that anything on behalf of monarchy is just fine, especially if it means the Firm’s boot on Harry and Meghan’s necks. She’s the dumb one for not knowing that that wide net of unchecked power would swallow her up.
Maybe Willy enlisted Kloe Kardashian’s photoshop help? “Look, Harry! I know famous people too!”
Yeah, the Khloe Kardashian special is great. It’s like a classic now!
Kardashian use photo editors for the professional images but you can see when they post the iPhone/fast images or selfies they were using FaceTune or whatever and doing it with their fingers!
This wasn’t even one of the worst but still are they that stupid to think this wasn’t going to be the most scrutinized photo they have ever released? Her right hands is blurry, her shoes are different colors, her face is distorted, George’s thumb, charlotte’s skirt, hands, etc…I can’t wait to see how intoxicated Wills is today
The obvious adam apple did it for me. It’s hilariously bad.
I’m going to quote Johnny Galuva on X: “The dodgy editing, especially around Kate’s hair and jacket and the absence of wedding ring, makes me believe that her face and hair have been overlayed onto either an ill-looking Kate or a completely different woman” Either of those suppositions makes sense to me. Just happy the picture agencies decided to call this one out.
This is the issue right here. It’s not that they did several layers so that all the kids were smiling in one pic or just normal futzing with an image to make Kate’s wrinkles go away. It’s that a different image of Kate was placed into that photo than the image of whoever was sitting in that chair, which is why KP refuses to release the original, unedited photo.
Since the announcement of the Kill Notice I looked at the photo really properly and totally agree with Mads and TigerMcQueen above: KM’s head has been pasted in on top of what was there. And if you enlarge it it’s even more apparent.
That’s why the press agencies pulled it, Charlotte’s arm has nothing to do with it.
And now, this evening, another photo is released allegedly showing W&K leaving Windsor this morning with W en route to the Commonwealth Day service, and KM allegedly being dropped off somewhere. Staged and photo’d to answer the missing wedding ring in yesterday’s photo. KM is conveniently looking away from the camera.
It has been glorious watching twitter explode with laughter at the photo today. Professional photographers pointing out where the photoshop tells are (the top half of K on a different body with a clear line differentiating the two, Charlotte’s sleeve, George’s teeth, K’s hair, Louis’s jumper, G’s hands, ghost tiles, cloning tool fails, blurring tool fails…). RR not knowing how to react as first one, then two, three and finally the fourth agency issued a “kill” notice on the image. PR professionals (real ones) talking about wjat a disaster this is for KP. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.
True! It was joy on Ex-Twitter!
Still want to know if Kensington sent out the file to all the agency’s accounts.Then they can see a lot from the metadata and Reuters AP would see exactly editing in detail.
Only if the original RAW file was sent. If it was a dupliKate (ha!), they’d only see the meta data of the copied image. hehehe
@Seaflower, it truly is SO FUNNY. I said the pic was “the best she’s looked in years”!!! Absolutely rolling!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Seaflower: I wonder because if they can use whatever editing app for that poorly done image, shows a lack of computer knowledge, therefore would they even know how to duplicate an image to send out.
Maybe that’s why the agency’s put out the ‘kill’ order because they could see the data.
All crazy, but after listening to Emily Mathis and Sam McAlister talk in-depth about how they got Prince Andrew interview, they revealed how all the staff and royalty are arrogance and stupidity run rampant.
@SAS it is the best she’s looked in years.
@K.T I agree the level of arrogance and stupidity to think they could get away with this.
If they had just released this on their own social media then any scrutiny would have been attributed as more conspiracy theories. It would have given many of the more causal royal observers an out.
But they chose to send this photo to major news sites in the hopes it would appear in major newspapers. And those newspapers have journalistic standards. Actual reputable newspapers don’t publish photoshopped pictures aside from basic cosmetic touch ups. From what I read the AP reached out to KP asking for the required metadata and they have refused.
This will blow up in their faces. This is a story in The NY Times and the Washington post. It will pique the interest of people who have no idea of the names of the kids and get them wondering what is going on in England. And the scrutiny will not end will for the prince of pegging. Because once they start digging they will find a lot.
I’m here for it!
I also think that KP has angered the very sympathetic UK press and they must be dying to write some stories!
Very stupid of them to release a photo like this in the midst of all the speculation. If they can’t tell the truth they should keep calm and carry on! Ridiculous
Jean this is so right. It’s all kinds of wrong. Even if true, it makes a mockery of people recovering from abdominal surgery. Would you really be implying you’re off for a hike and wearing denim jeans after what she’s meant to have been thru? Why not a relaxed picture inside with comfortable clothes. The thing that gets me is Louis’ finger. After all the drama about his strange finger on the Christmas card would they repeat such an odd thing here? I tried his finger crossing technique. As an ex full on pianist when younger it’s pretty easy but an odd formation. It helps that he’s using some of the pressure of the wall surface. I’m beginning to think it’s all kind of rubbish. It must be that she’s so ill she won’t let any photographer near her. That’s the alarming thing about this.
I didn’t even think about how she got those boots on and laced up.
This is more than just bad photoshopping. It looks as if the image has been constructed by bringing together elements from different photos. My guess is that it started out as a photo of a woman, who may or may not be Kate, sitting outside a house, which could be anywhere. A healthy looking image of Kate’s face has been superimposed on the figure in the chair. Images of the children have been brought in and manipulated to fit around ‘Kate’.
Charlotte and Louis appear to be dressed in what they were wearing at the Carol Service under their coats with Charlotte having changed into ankle boots. George looks like a head and shoulders snip from another photo with arms and hands which could be from anywhere.
Kate’s face is slightly too large for the body it is attached to. The black top looks like a blacking out of what the figure was wearing. The hands don’t match. The missing wedding ring is notable.
I am not one for conspiracy theories, but when the photo was first released yesterday I thought “it looks like they have photoshopped Kate’s face on another women’s body”!
Another ’woman’s’ body with an Adam’s apple in ‘her’ neck…
There’s digital debris all of this pictures (those windows are a hot mess) but there’s no depth between Kate and George. It looks just like it does when you paste people on top of each other when you make a composite photo.
Some on X thought they saw an Adams apple on Kate – so maybe originally it was William seated. Anything is possible with this amount of manipulation.
Congratulations to Kensington Palace for generating international headlines on one of the biggest nights of the year in showbiz, not many could pull focus from the Oscars. Of course this is not the commentary they wanted, the plebs are not very fawning over this are they so maybe hold off on that two pence bonus to Tarquin (or whatever upper class twit you have hired because his Grandmother once hunted grouse with the Duke of Bumbleford)
Where are all the experts (looking at you Angela Levin) that claimed Meghan’s pregnancies were faked and the kids are really dolls or hired actors, surely they are poring over this picture with their expertise, all very silent today aren’t they.
In unrelated news the popcorn industry is having a bumper year in sales.
Time for King Charles to show leadership and bring Kensington Palace under full control of Buckingham Palace. No more division within the royal firm.
This PR war between the Windsor heirs is not good for the royal family’s public image. And I’m not even a monarchist.
^^ Too late. Sir Christopher Geidt proposed bringing the palaces all under one umbrella when he was in charge years ago. As we know, Charles and Andrew gave the go-ahead for their staffs to gang up on Geidt and push him out. The Queen, in her 90s, having ceded power and facing illness along with Philip’s retirement, did not put up a fight to save her private secretary. Geidt was replaced by none other than Chuck’s ambitious, arrogant honcho, Edward Young. As the saying goes, ‘The rest is history!’ 😜🍿
KP need to be placed under guardianship by BP.
Thanks for that bit of history, aftershocks. I think Geidt would have done a much better job of handling the Harry and Meghan situation. I hope he’s sitting quietly in his study with a delicious glass of wine.
I’ve been saying for years now, that Princess of Wales title is cursed. Retire the title or give it back to the Welsh and get rid of these two, and the rest of the sponge bobs.
Cursed like the post of Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher! #potterhead
Exactly!!!! (From a fellow Potter head).
Thank goodness I had the popcorn already to eat for the Oscars last night . Instead I was entertained by the Fails. As soon as I saw that picture I knew in my gut knew it wasn’t real and it isn’t. The Wales have photoshopped images before see “all the greatgrand kids but the one with a black mom” that KP tweeted out by KP for QEII’s birth last April where James Wessex and Louis Wales both appear to shopped in. Or the Wales Christmas shot from 2015 where a photo of Charlotte was dropped in. There was broad coverage of those accusations at the time so they probably thought they could get away with this as well. BUT this one had also had the full volume of the mystery of “Where’s Kate?” combined with the weird car shot (probably arranged by Ma Midds) that popped up earlier in the week. The tabloid press can’t ignore it and it just keeps the whole “where’ Kate?” story going with even more momentum. It’s absolutely delicious!
Now I’m wondering if CarolE did that pap shot as a countermeasure because she knew William was going to release this Mother’s Day photo. Game. Check. Match.
This is a huge story. I got a NYTimes push notification about it and it’s a headline on early morning CNN today.
I am of the opinion that the AP wouldn’t do this without a legal cease and desist from the owner or the estate of the likeness. I think William created this image and posted it without Kate’s permission and her lawyers reached out to the AP to request it be removed. Now why would William have an interest in posting this fake pic of Kate without her permission? Why would Kate or her estate have an interest in letting the world know it’s a fake pic? I’m starting to think it is more grave than I ever imagined. Kensington Palace is literally saying this chaos is better than the truth.
I’m beginning to think the pap shot is accurate – she was very ill looking in that. I thought the Middletons had set up the pap shot but feel now that this is the set up. My opinion is she reacted strongly to her appearance in the Windsor photo and released this asap. It’s a cut and paste job. I don’t even think William ever took a photo.
Betina, I don’t think you’re giving enough credit to the news organizations in the US. We do have journalistic ethics. The problem with the news organizations continuing to float that picture is that too many people, including their own in house photographers, know that it has been photoshopped to death. This is the difference between the UK and US. The brf have no pull here.
I think you may be right about Kate’s people calling to push back at the photo. I wonder if there was some negotiation that allowed her to take the fall in exchange for something or some concession, maybe a bigger home, or she gets to keep big blue in case of a divorce.
This could not have gone any worse for KP..
And I am so glad this is getting called out. When I first saw the photo and associated article yesterday, I was so annoyed with the newspaper for publishing it because it looked so obviously fake and I thought “is no one over there capable of using critical thinking, or maintaining the standards of journalistic integrity when it comes to the royals”?!
Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates had a few choice words about this nonsense this morning. He used the word “propaganda,” imploring news outlets to stop running amateur photo journalism, including that from the royal family. A news reader tried to defend KP, and Sam ripped her a new a-hole about journalistic ethics and fake news, which is what this amounts to. Don’t forget: the king is the head of state.
Speaking of–I think it was the BBC that said it reached out to KP yesterday to ask for a comment & got a recorded message saying their offices are closed on the weekend & they’ll be back Monday morning. Can you imagine? The next in line to head of state & their PR team doesn’t work weekends? Really? They can’t figure out alternative shifts so they can have staff on hand should anything develop? Especially NOW, with the king & POW ill & out of commission?
PA has just pulled the photo; this is something more than the obvious photoshop on Charlotte’s wrist.
Yes. To me it makes her real state far more alarming. If this has been cobbled together, she must not want any photographer near her or release any photos via William to be edited by a professional. It really is a worry.
Interesting, but not surprising, that PA Media agency that services national UK media was hours behind international picture agencies in pulling the manipulated photo. AP issued a kill notice saying it had been manipulated at the source. They were followed closely by AFP and Getty Images. Reuters pulled it after post-publication review. “Reuters could not immediately establish how, why or by whom the alteration had been made.” BBC, which uses PA Media, continued using the image before PA pulled it, but said they were waiting for palace clarification.
Now we have a statement from Kitty that she made unspecified edits to a picture that publishers attributed to Willy. So, does picture credit belong to Kitty or Willy?
Oh my, poor Kaiser! Last night when I was reading the post about the Oscars and this news broke I just imagined the workload you’d be having this morning. Thank you for posting this as promptly as you did!
When I saw and posted about the photo yesterday, I had only seen it on my phone screen. There’s a limit to what my eyes can discern without zooming in constantly. Nevertheless, I could see what I referred to as “odd anomalies”.
Still, I thought even though it all was bit questionable, that there was no way KP would issue something that would destroy their already flimsy credibility to the degree this has.
Surely, I thought, if Kate were unable or unwilling to issue her own statement and/or pose for her own “recovery photo”, KP wouldn’t risk manufacturing these when they would risk being discovered later as bald faced liars on such a critical matter as the well being of a prominent “working royal”.
Now I question that completely. Somebody may just be that foolhardy. And we are once again left with what to make of the photo of Kate with Carole Middleton, which is also sketchy as hell.
I, not being a journalist, had no idea how seriously the major news agencies would take this matter. I mean, after watching the UK press smash journalistic ethics underfoot for YEARS in colluding with The Firm to try and destroy the Duchess of Sussex, I just didn’t expect KP to be called out over something like this.
I guess KP wasn’t expecting it, either.
But damn, Harry and Meghan have been called liars and crybabies for years now for trying to point out what a pack of liars KP is.
I sincerely hope Kate is well. I am just frustrated that it’s caused a crisis involving HER to finally get eyes on and acknowledgement of the credibility problem KP has. This will benefit Harry and Meghan, but why wasn’t their word ever enough? (That’s a rhetorical question; we all know the answer).
I don’t know about recovering from abdominal surgery. A number of posters on here who’ve had potentially similar conditions and surgeries have said they were up and about fairly quickly, if only because of medical advice to keep moving and also of course because, in the real world, we have jobs to get to. Would they have been wearing such clothing, though? Like off for a hike, isn’t it all dandy in the countryside, stuff? I’d love to know from anyone on here who’s more informed than I am.
@sparrow – I’ve had 3 due to aggressive fibroids – myomectomy, c-section (as it had been 1 year since the open myomectomy), and an open hysterectomy. It takes at least a year for all the layers of of the body to fully recover with a major surgery – minimum…even if you don’t “feel” pain all the time, you can have numbness, itching, nerve pain (30% of abdominal surgeries), and muscle spasms. I actually did really well with all of the surgeries and was back to work well before I was supposed to be, but it’s been 6 months since my open hysterectomy and I still struggle to wear anything with any kind of waist or tightness in the legs…even the light pressure of c-section panties can hurt (overalls are my friend). As for heavy boots, anything that stretches your abdominal muscles because of an unnatural footfall hurts for a while too. You also wouldn’t extend your arms so fully if you were several months out from returning to work – you have no idea how much work your abs do until you don’t have full use of them, and holding up your arms is one of those things especially if your kids are leaning on you affectionately. Not to mention how much your back hurts because your abs aren’t fully healed.
Thank you, nutella. You sound like you’ve been to hell and back. I’m really sad to hear this. Yes, The photo shocked me most in the implication that you can wear this kind of clothing after abdo major surgery. It seemed a slap in the face to those who know the truth, such as yourself. Thank you for your hard-gained insight and best wishes x
Can confirm, I had a C-section a couple of years ago and for the next 6 months, I was wearing loose track pants and maxi dresses. I shuddered at the thought of pulling skinny jeans up my thighs. No freaking way.
sparrow, I was cut open and about 3 inches of my small intestine was removed. It was the second major surgery within 6 weeks. I was back to work at 6 weeks (yes, working pays my bills), and I did NOT wear anything tight. No!
Waity has taken the fall for this – I’m guessing all of the staffers washed their hands off it?
I suspect she wanted to get her face out there seeing W has all but sidelined her. She was vain enough to want a photo where he looked good, and stupid enough to think her amateur photoshop skills would pass muster.
I doubt Kate had anything to do with this. This is all Egg and KP’s doing to make him look good but it backfired big time. This may very well force the truth to come out, someone — Carol(E) or someone in the tabloids who knows what really went down — to spill.
To the question of why the news agencies have reacted so strongly, the best guess I’ve seen is that KP was asked and refused to provide the raw image or image metadata to the agencies, which is apparently majorly odd.
But given the extreme concern journalism orgs have about the rise of AI, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some suspicion about AI having been used in *some* capacity for editing the image and the agencies deciding this was a place to draw a firm, public line against it before AI can creep into photojournalism.
Thank you for this insight, AI; I’ve been wondering how they’re going to cope with any supposedly ‘true’ photos during this day and age. I’m beginning to think the pap shot was the true shot, but perhaps not wanted by the Middletons. I thought they’d set it up to prove she’s alive, but this one makes me feel she didn’t want to be seen puffed up and actually ill looking, so she got this flattering mother’s day one published asap.
I personally believe they used a deep fake AI app to add Kate’s face to someone else’s body. There’s a bizarre bit of debris around Kate’s neck that’s tell tale to me.
There’s also a chance they used AI to make the children look like they are smiling which is how they ended up in uncanny valley territory with the kids.
And that’s just the beginning of the editing this image displays.
🍿🍿🍿🍿 This went off the rails so fast, it’s kind of impressive.
Kate is definitely William’s spare. She’s taking the fall for this mess? WOW.
In that sense everyone but Charles and Camilla are William’s spare – he will not ever be seen as being at fault and someone, anyone, else will be blamed.
They photoshop their images all the time. But ordering a “kill” on the picture means the agencies think it goes beyond the usual “skin smoothing/light removal of a few things”.
It is such a mess. And I have no sympathies for the Wales stans/monarchists complaining about people creating conspiracies. It’s the monster they created turning back on them.
It was just on the news here in Canada that Kate apologizes, she is an amateur photographer and was experimenting with photoshop.
Yikes.
It’s in the US too. But why is she apologizing if William took the picture?
The Independent choosing Mother’s Day to do a huge puff piece on Rose is also interesting. Like why would Rose even be in the press at all.
Once again, these people (KP) only know one way of problem solving, and that is to LIE. The only reason to issue an inconsistent statement again by saying that Kate apologizes for the fake photos, it was all Kate’s doing, don’t blame us — after previously taking bows that William took the pictures (in an obvious effort to cover up for his absence from said picture), is because they think that there won’t be as much blame attributed to Kate because of the alleged illness story that’s out there. I cannot believe these people are covering up the cover-up with another cover-up.
And now they’ve issued an official and grovelling apology from Kate, a statement she clearly did not write, which is contradictory and clearly illogical.
No mention of William, the person KP claims took the photo.
At this point im100% sure they want people talking about this? The fake Kate car pic and now this? its so clearly older and photoshopped pic, they must know everyone would notice?
They want people to focus on the Kate thing so we wont talk about other stuff.
Wow – what a total clusterfk. KP left the agencies with no choice but to kill the image after they refused to send them the original image which is only fuelling the speculation that the image has been completely doctored. It would not surprise me in the least that whoever did this was trying to put updated photos of kate and the kids over and older image of them or they used a stock image and tried to super impose their faces on it. It could be AI and was then manipulated in some way.
What the hell is going on in KP – its all imploding over there.
KP have tweeted, the tweet is signed off C, she apologizes and says the editing fails are hers.
Don’t believe it.
Their Xmas photoshop fail was accepted and printed by all even though Louis was quite clearly missing a finger.
Why Kill the photo? I think the Middleton’s had the photo killed. Everyone celeb edits photos on their socials and the press print photos from celebs socials all the time. There must be some proof that it couldn’t possibly be Kate and that proof must be coming to light soon and the media is trying to remove the egg from their face before we all find out.
No, I don ‘t think the Middletons have any pull with these big, old, established news agencies such as AP or Reuters or Getty. No, these agencies have integrity, and as someone else mentioned, we’re so used to the UK press publishing whatever they’re fed that this time caught them up short.
These agencies are the “professionals of professionals” and can spot a fake from a mile away. They were probably so shocked at the lack of photoshop or AI skills that their reputations would have been at stake if they hadn’t issued the kill orders.
Because this photo is much more suspect than the xmas photo. Kate was still in the public eye before during and after the xmas photo debacle. THIS photos comes after she is post “planned” abdominal surgery, and hasn’t been seen for 77 days, unless you count the car pic. So 75 days.
Getty/AP/Reuters et al aren’t going to post a pic like this one. Not when it’s clearly been manipulated, even to the amateur eye.
All I know is that my husband, who has never brought up the royals, asked me as we were watching the Oscars “what is going on with this Kate Middleton thing” and I thought he meant her being sick…he had read about the photo kill before I did because it was on the NYT home page. We then spent half the Oscars talking about it and just flabbergasted at what a mess they’ve created. They made a man who wouldn’t normally think twice about any of these people come up with all these conspiracies about what’s going on. Now my husband is convinced she left him because prince W hit her/the kids and she refuses to come out of hiding. What a disaster.
My husband was the one that told me about it, too. And he does not care at all about the Royals. This is all delicious schadenfreude
1. This is a pretty big breach of trust imo. The fact that AP and other major photo agencies pulled the photo because it is so manipulated is just crazy. It’s not an exaggeration to say KP put out misinformation to deceive their subjects. This calls a lot into question and will be a hard stain to remove.
2. There’s no way Kate edited that photo herself. She’s absolutely being thrown under the bus to protect William. I can’t believe their comms team thought that was a good explanation.
3. This is not about them at all but thank goodness H&M got out of there when they did. THANK GOD. I shudder to think about the ways they would have sacrificed M to distract from all this.
4. Now I understand why Lizzie held onto power. It wasn’t right but yeah, I get it now.
KP had been careful up to this point not to attribute any quote directly to Kate and now we have a Mothering Sunday comment and an apology for this photo signed off as ‘C’.
Why is it that POW cannot be seen by the public? How are we meant to believe these two statements are actually issued from Kate herself after being unseen from Christmas onward?
Why is ‘Kate’ apologizing when the photo credit was announced as William’s, who KP insisted took the picture himself this week?
Proof. Of. Life.
This photo was likely taken they day they went to the baby bank in winter 2023 (November?). They’re wearing the same outfits, just changed a bit.
They edited the colors and added/changed a skirt on Charlotte (hence the issues there).
It’s not as simple as that… AP and Reuters wouldn’t kill a photo over a photoshopped skirt color or other clothes..if that was the case ,then KP wouldn’t have a problem releasing the original photo…no…the whole photo from Kate’s head to the children’s clothes, hands etc is completely fake
Someone pointed out on xwitter that those aren’t Kate’s hands in the photoshopped pic. Had comparison pics of her hands from over the years and it’s obvious. So it was more than just doctored, they put her head on someone else’s body apparently.
It’s AI. 😆
Such an effort to deceive. William must be aghast that he was challenged. What is he going to do now? Ban all the press agencies from his coronation? They got him. None of us had AP & Reuters on our bingo cards as aiding in the exposure of the rotting House of Wales.
The TMZ photo and the Mother’s Day photo were both supposedly taken within a day or two of each other. I would not be surprised if Concha Calleja called AP and said you should ask for the original photo because I am pretty sure that is not the current condition of Kate Middleton. And if they can’t give it to you then pull it. Someone who absolutely knows the truth had to have pulled the alarm.
On twitter:
I just long for the good old days of the royal family when:
Diana was starving herself
Charles was wanting to be Camilla’s tampon
Margaret was a drunk
Andrew was randy & sleeping around
Fergie was having her toes sucked
& Philip was racist all the time.
Happy simpler times.🇬🇧😌
https://twitter.com/michaeltakemp/status/1767099800283951540?s=61&t=9TaAsfwrl1H_hiFD2SEi3A
I just saw the tiktok showing how the clothes are changed because the photo isn’t recent. It is just so stupid that they think they can lie so amateurishly and expect people to believe it. If this was just because Kate is not comfortable to be in photos yet, they wouldn’t need to lie this much. Will did something and it will come out in the end. Now, their children are in this mess too since they used them in this fake photo. Their friends will certainly ask them why they did a fake photo op.
https://www.tiktok.com/@allynaston/video/7344921409816251678
Thanks so much for that link because I see it more clearly now. I knew it was probably a faked photo because it so different from the grainy car picture supposedly taken at around the same time, and also the kids all looked so over-the-top happy at such a time. But the woman’s pointing out the flaws in the picture was spot on.
I think that TikTok explains, in part, the kill order–yes, it’s photoshopped to hell & gone, but it was presented to them as taken last week when it was really last November. It’s supposed to be a healthy & happy & well on the way to recovering Kate when that most certainly is not her current situation. That’s the big lie.
Since i’m old and I can’t see the stuff everyone is talking about, I took it to my daughter who works for a company who is using AI programs for various companies and asked her what was what. She does not follow the royal family at all, doesn’t have social media so she has no idea what’s going on. I explained some of it and she just rolled her eyes
She took one look at the picture and fell down laughing. Her exact quote was “what in the actual hell?” Then she started pointing out things that were wrong. Lots of things. ALL of the things. I asked her how easy it is to Photoshop (again I am old) a picture. She found a recent one of me on her phone, moved it to her computer and with a few clicks I went from 66 back to 30.
She just said that whoever did this to kate’s picture has no functioning brain cells, they must not like her “and is that little kid missing a finger?”
I admit that I was secretly hoping that Meghan and Harry would make an appearance at the Oscars last night but now I’m soooo glad that they didn’t, it allows WandK to have an entire press cycle all to themselves, just how they wanted it. hehehe!
When I initially saw the ‘kill photo’, with a big X over it!, Chris Shipt tweet yesterday it felt just like when I first saw that Melania plagiarized Michelle O’s speech. Same OMG – so embarrassingly dumb. I’m a light sleeper and I must have refreshed twitter 5x last night 🙂
When this hit my notifications this morning, I squealed. I said that photo was faked the moment I saw it. And I still believe it’s an old photo.
I saw someone comment that this is Kate’s 2017 face, and now I can’t unsee it. My suspicion is that her face has been photoshopped in from a pre-existing publicity photo which is several years old, and some enterprising editor found the original of that other photo. That would explain why the photo agencies had to kill it, if they knew for sure that Kate’s face was from a picture that is several years old.
Interestingly, the suggestion that it’s from her 2016 Vogue photos is very credible when you see them side by side.
Other than assuming there was some heavy Photoshop done to her face, my theory is that they tried to Photoshop medical equipment out of the photo (either a wheelchair, oxygen tank, IV stand, etc ) due to the placement of where a lot of the Photoshop errors seem to be. For example, I think the issues with Charlotte’s sleeve and also one of her shoes having a heel and the other one doesn’t is because Kate likely had medical equipment on the side where Charlotte is standing (which could have even been blocking a foot in the picture), and also either an IV on her hand that was by Charlotte or having to edit out the wheelchair.
For whatever reason, the greenery and shrubs in the background isn’t alarming to me – it’s not a tree behind them, I have that exact same type of shrub and it does look like that in the winter (live in the northeast United States with a similar climate to England). I’m looking at my backyard now and the trees are bare, but that shrub does have the same type of leaves on it. I would guess that some type of photo actually did happen recently, but they heavily edited Kate to make her look healthier and also edited out medical equipment. Why though? I don’t understand why they don’t want the public to understand how sick she is at this point.
I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole and as a small-r republican (anti-monarchist) U.S. citizen I keep reminding myself we fought a war so we wouldn’t have to care about this #@$&, but the leaves!
I’m going full tinfoil hat unless we hear from a Windsor-based arborist.
Lol @ Hexicon. Sure, I think it would be great for a UK arborist to chime in too! To me, it obviously is a shrub and not a tree, and there are many shrubs that have green on them year round when trees don’t so it’s not really a stretch for me to believe that that part of the image could be real. The shrubs I have in my backyard in New England that are similar are rhododendrums. I think azaleas also have green on them year round (but I’m not much of a gardener, so I agree that an arborist should chime in!!!!)
That ‘heell’ that you see is actually a long tassel on the zipper pull of Charlotte’s boot. Everything else though, yeah, just not that.
I love this for Willie & the Middletons! They wanted Harry and his family out. Now they’re out of their control and showing the world who the true heir to Princess Diana’s legacy is.
What is Kate’s family getting out of this farce? All parties involved should be humiliated. It’s obvious that the two families are not communicating and the KP has the upper hand in this clown show but it’s going well at all for any of them. Apparently Pa and his consort don’t want any part of it.
What little commonsense that family had either died with the Queen or hightailed it out of the commonwealth on Tyler Perry’s private jet.
The figure in the TMZ pap shot does not match the figure in this picture. Do you know how long it took me to even look at jeans/jeggings/leggings after a c-section? I was in sweat pants and maxi dresses for months because my waist was so sensitive. I had to carry a pillow in my car because of the where the seatbelt landed on my waist. My doctor said it would take months to a year for the nerves and muscles to recover properly. I’ve heard stories about women’s stitches reopening.
What a mess! Thank God the Sussex family is away from this.
“What is Kate’s family getting out of this farce?” Nothing. William is hanging them out to dry.
I work for the AP and they are FURIOUS about this.
Thanks for the tea!
Changing my name because I can, (Your name: I luv a rebel). I’m glad that you posted. It’s important for news organizations to be concerned about integrity and ethics. I know that there are some out there that don’t care, but I believe it’s extremely important all of the time, but particularly right now, to remind the people that there are lines that will not be crossed.
They are rightly furious. I hope they know that by killing this photo it helps to build trust for their readers.
@Saucy&Sassy, Thanks, lol, I can definitely be a rebel..
I wish more news organizations were concerned about integrity and ethics. One of the things I like about writing for the AP is that (most of the time) there’s a lot more integrity there than most other places I’ve written for. Which is refreshing.
1. Stop blaming kp staff for Will-not’s follies. Multiple staff will be blamed for this/fired, but this enture mess is Baldimort’s doing. He has been allowed to run amok so long (scapegoating/never being called out for his lazy, petulant behaviors) that he does as he pleases with no sense of accountability and no one can put him in line (especially an employee). 2. The press, including the world press, know what is going on with Keen. No major media outlet wants to be the first to report specifically what is going on medically/mentally with kHate, but no one wants to be involved in a major/obvious cover-up.
It seems like too many people know the truth, whatever it is. Do you think it will leak out slowly or will the dam burst all at once?
I think the dam may burst all at once. When you have the likes of Reuters, et al ALL calling out the picture as a fake and killing it, you know the gloves are off with the BaRF. This may very well be the tipping point.
Does the world press know what’s going on with Kate or only the royal rota? I don’t understand how there haven’t been any leaks yet if the world press really knows.
It’s worth clarifying that AI being involved could mean totally generated with AI or simply edited using AI tools. So, we can’t dismiss the AI claims on the grounds that it doesn’t look 100% AI generated; it can still have unacceptable usage of AI in the eyes of the AP, Reuters, etc.
👏👏👏👏👏👏, Ladies and gentlemen, could we have a round of applause for the kardashians of Kensington Prince and Princess Idol.
Oh my, what a royal fk up, blood pressure Charlie, blood pressure, YOU raised the blithering idiot and allowed him to marry the vapid clothes horse 😂😂, And now your “Heir” is a laughing stock on the world stage, (yes, that is Megan’s laughter you can hear, because your youngest son is biteing a pillow to stifle his! Talking of pillows, how many were thrown today? Note to billy idol, if you fk up, OWN IT and move on, don’t use your (supposedly still to sick to work wife) as an excuse, we believe her apology as much as we believed your “we are definitely not a racist family” speech. Your not just racist, your a bunch of bloody freeloading gaslighting parasites, and thank you for showing it to the world
Mary Pester, this is such a disaster and it’s hard to believe that anyone thought this was a good idea. I know people continue to think that Bone Idle is ill, but I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s hiding away and being silent. Either she’s doing this or someone has sidelined her. At this point, I don’t care.
@saucy&sassy, I know lovey! When you think of the size of their staff and press office it really is a cock up of epic proportions! I expect by tomorrow the sycophantic press will be on excuse 1001, but I doubt the rest of the world will buy it
I posted on my IG stories a headline of this ridiculousness from Hello Mag covering this story with Taylor Swift’s Karma playing over the story with the lyrics showing up on screen. To clarify, I selected a picture without the kids, it was a random one Hello used from one of William and Kate’s engagements they selected. I didn’t want to include the kids in this mess or have people think I think karma is out to get the kids (though at this rate, I have no idea how those kids are not going to turn out like their parents except maybe for Louis). But I don’t know what else to say at this point in this soap opera.
Yup. They’ve left the kids out of their nonsense before, so it’s sad to see them roped in.
WTF is going on over there? Seriously, I thought Kate was just lazy but now even I am getting concerned. Do they really need Charles (who is busy fighting cancer) to go over there and get that house in order? Sorry, but Wills and company seem like incompetent children who need a parent to step in and sort out their mess because they are in over their heads, ill-equipped, and can’t admit it to themselves. Isn’t that just what the public wants in a future king and queen? SMH.
I am mostly enjoying the fact that Willy is seeing the limits of his power. He can’t get the international press to circulate any old crappy AI or photoshopped photo he releases.
The guy who’s never been told “no” is getting a bunch of “oh, hell no’s” right now.
This immediately became an earworm in my head [edited]:
Eggy Peggy sat on a wall.
Eggy Peggy had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
couldn’t put Eggy together again.
Speculation on Reddit is that the Windsors are getting divorced and Kate is refusing to play ball right now. I could see it.
If it wasn’t for AP and 3 very reputable international news agencies calling out the photo , the BM/RR wouldn’t have questioned this. They would have been Business As Usual and would have gone along with what they were told to do instead of what Every journalist Should do – Question the reliability and integrity of every news story. Go back to the basic Ethics of Journalism. They didn’t, so Did that BURN them big time on the world stage lolZ 😆…. The BM can try to manipulate their own country but Definitely not other countries . I believe AP is US based and I think they were the ones that called the Kill order first, it became a domino effect after. (I also agree with commenters above, I think AP has a bit more info to this story. ). I’ve read from posts on SM that it really takes a lot for the AP to announce a Kill order and that’s Hardly ever done.
I asked a friend of mine who shoots for AFP and AP about this. This is basically the nuclear option in dealing with a photo source – the only way they could push it further is to insist that any future pics be taken/released by them and not a palace lackey.
Wow!!!! That would be mortifying for the BRF and the BM, no wonder the royal reporters are freaking out that’s not just KP circumventing them on Social Media, that’s international press photographers taking away their own turf too. What a mess!
My friend was very clear that the agencies cannot use manipulated photos because, and this is a direct quote from her, “ While the palace is not bound by ethics, news agencies are.”
NGL I laughed for a good five minutes straight when I read that text.
Im sure this has been mentioned, but the window glass/glazing is so bad. The transparency of the right windows vs the foggy mess of the left windows is hilariously bad.