Agency flags another doctored photo
Picture taken by Princess of Wales in 2022 found to have inconsistencies
Kate Middleton is under fire again.
Another one of her photos — this one released in April 2023 to celebrate what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 97th birthday — was digitally manipulated before it was released, according to photo agency Getty Images.
The photo, taken at Balmoral in the summer of 2022, shows the queen sitting on a couch with her grandchildren and great grandchildren seated around her.
But Getty placed an editor’s note on the photo because it had been “digitally enhanced at source,” the agency said in a statement to the Telegraph.
The inconsistencies, outlined by the Telegraph, include a vertical line on the Queen’s skirt where the pattern doesn’t match, two more vertical lines on the couch, jagged edges on the left side of Prince Louis’ face, and inconsistent patterns in the carpet on the right edge of the couch.
Getty’s editor’s note comes less than two weeks after some of the world’s largest photo agencies — including Getty, the Associated Press and Reuters — issued kill notices on a British Mother’s Day photo released by Kensington Palace when it became apparent it was digitally manipulated.
The photo, showing Middleton with her children on a porch, had multiple inconsistencies, including a disappearing cuff on Princess Charlotte’s sweater and misaligned zipper on Middleton’s jacket.
Middleton later issued an apology, saying she does “occasionally experiment with editing.”
Agence France-Presse (AFP), one of the world’s largest wire services, said it no longer considers Kensington Palace a “trusted source.”
In an interview with Ros Atkins on the BBC’s “The Media Show” podcast, AFP’s global news director, Phil Chetwynd, said the photo manipulation controversy has eroded trust between media and the Royal Family.
The controversy has only stoked the flames of a months-long drama on the whereabouts of Middleton, who has not made an official public appearance since Christmas.