Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
No one is picture perfect
PICTURE the scene: You are a mother of three young kids. You’ve had an operation and you’ve had to shelve everything while you recover.
You can’t work, you can’t do the school drops. You feel insecure, guilty, sore and a bit sad.
On Mother’s Day you post a picture with your children on your socials, with a few Photoshop tweaks as everyone seems to do.
Sympathy levels for this imaginary woman? High.
Then add in the fact she is Kate, the Princess of Wales. And – judging from any commentary anywhere – all empathy dies.
Kate posted her first picture since abdominal surgery in January, on Mothering Sunday. Unlike the imaginary non-royal mum, the princess possibly didn’t do it because she felt like it. She may well have been whispered to by the palace – or by the constant voice in her own head – that it might be an idea to “show face”.
What with the rumours she’s more poorly than letting on, of the paparazzi pictures of her venturing out published in an American title, of the voracious and global public appetite to know something – anything – about her life.
And so she has a picture taken with her three children. But it’s not perfect and if anyone’s going to be scrutinised for having a hair out of place or shadows under eyes, it’s her.
So she makes a few edits. According to one analysis of the image, the tweaks were made around 9pm-10pm.
For all we know she may have been on painkillers, she may have had a drink, she may have just made an error of judgment.
That’s not treason – it’s a list of plausible possibilities based on what that imaginary mum would do. I’m a mum of three kids of similar ages and like any mother – or any person, for that matter – I make mistakes, I feel at times insecure, guilty and overwhelmed.
Kate has barely put a foot wrong in her years at William’s
side, despite intense scrutiny. Now that she has, we pounce.
Yet was the mistake really worth our rounding on her? Perhaps it was daft and sloppy, but worthy of burning ire?
Kate is not imaginary. Yes, she’s royal and rich – and critics hold that against her. But made
to deal with the consequences of marrying into the Windsors for one day, they might see things differently.
Her health, marriage, friendships, clothes, diet, skin, hair, relatives – nothing is off limits when it comes to a juicy story. And she abides by the dictum that one never explains and never complains. But at times, that lack of voice must feel like strangulation.
At what point does the prod, prod, prod get called out as bullying?
You don’t have to like the royals to have a heart.
Kate is being crucified for her late-night edits. Headlines scream of deception, lies, taking the public for fools – responses ranging from annoyed to incandescent with rage.
The Princess of Wales issued a public apology for her amateur photography edits and wished everyone a happy Mother’s Day.
The critics cried that had only made matters worse.
Imagine if her polite apology had read differently. If it had said: “Sorry, I was off my head on Tramadol mixed with my first glass of wine in months. My edits weren’t convincing. Sorry, not sorry. I’ve got a sense of humour, feelings and a voice.”