Kate Middleton Pal Says Photo Agency Furor Over Manipulated Photo is ‘Hypocritical’: Report
The storm currently engulfing Kate Middleton and Prince William is an overreaction to a simple Photoshop fail, a new report in the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper claims. Several unnamed sources appear to have spoken at length to the paper about the couple’s struggle to navigate an increasingly critical public, as social media speculation grows ever wilder.
The report, which has since been aggregated by publications worldwide, quotes an anonymous royal aide, a nameless source who’s known the couple since their college days, and several unspecified other “friends” and “sources.” How reliable are any of these people? Your guess is as good as mine, but here’s what they’re saying about the Princess of Wales’s continuing absence from the public eye—and why the family is so nonplussed by global skepticism that Middleton is a user of Adobe Creative Cloud.
Stories in Britain’s national newspapers about the manipulated photo released by Kensington Palace on March 10, 2024.
PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images
It appears that those friends and family members are doubling down on the claim that Middleton is indeed an aspiring digital editor. “It’s a photo that she knew everyone would pore over, so she pored over it herself—she likes trying to make the family look the best they can,” one friend told the Times in Middleton’s defense.
“If you want to call out the mistake, it was Kate not telling her team that she’d done it,” a “friend and adviser to the couple” said of the editing job, which has been confirmed via metadata as having been done two separate Photoshop sessions on March 8 and March 9.
“But she came out and said sorry,” that same source said. “The photo was a misstep, even with something as innocent as that you should disclose altering it. But in the history of image-cropping and photo-altering to tell a story, a lot of the reaction from picture agencies was hypocritical.”
As The Conversation reported last week, while news agencies will willingly circulate staged portraits, “there is still a requirement in the press to avoid any retouching.” Agencies like the Associated Press and Getty might allow small adjustments such as removing red-eye or cleaning dust in a camera’s lens. But more significant manipulation is and always has been strictly forbidden.
Stories in Britain’s national newspapers about the manipulated photo released by Kensington Palace on March 10.
Anadolu/Getty Images
Another source explains that the couple is also surprised by the ongoing curiosity regarding Middleton’s whereabouts. As Kensington Palace announced in January that Middleton would be convalescing out of the public eye until Easter, “they had confidence that people would give them the space they asked for.”
As folks who have been following this story know, the public largely gave that space until late February, when William abruptly pulled out of a memorial service for King Constantine of Greece, citing a “personal matter.” That lack of specificity sparked concerns over Middleton’s health, not an unreasonable reaction.
The Times spoke with a friend “who knows why William canceled” but who, frustratingly, does not share that information. They do say, however, that “He had no choice but to pull out, but the reaction was disappointing.”
The front pages of some of Britain’s national newspapers were dominated by stories about the altered Mother’s Day photo released by Kensington Palace on March 10, 2024
PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images
If the couple does eventually explain what happened with the memorial—or offers context on other events—that explanation probably won’t be given to the media. (At least, not directly.)
“They are at their most open when out interacting with members of the public,” a so-called “royal source” told the Times. “I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements. If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it.”
“They will want to be clear and more open, but they’ll do it when they feel ready,” another friend says. “I would expect that to be her instinct and it will be her call. They’re not going to be rushed.”
Another friend makes a fair point, especially if one truly believes the Firm’s line on the manipulated image. “In Kate’s case, there is almost nobody else in the world whose face, body, clothes are more judged than hers,” they say.
“So it’s entirely right for them not to want to be drawn into a game about what is going on with her health. What is happening is exactly what they said would happen—she would spend two weeks in hospital and be back after Easter. So what if they haven’t pushed her out there to wave from the back of a car? She is not a show pony.”
The front pages of some of Britain’s national newspapers were dominated by stories about the altered Mother’s Day photo released by Kensington Palace on March 10.
Anadolu/Getty Images
Notably, the couple’s intimates still found time to speak critically of William’s brother, Prince Harry, as they defended their friends. Describing William and Middleton’s familiarity with the media furor following the photo debacle, one pal said “They’re not like [Prince] Harry, obsessing and scrolling through Twitter, but they know it has broken through.”
“They follow the news and see the BBC breaking news alerts,” the friend said.
But though they apparently pay attention to the headlines and media coverage, it doesn’t appear that the royals have any plans to change how they communicate information about this crisis. “The royals are at their best when they get on with their job,” says someone “who has been in touch with the couple.”
“Don’t strategize about how to recover ground lost over Photogate, do what you were always intending to do,” the source said. “And when you take the next picture, make sure you take enough so you don’t have to use Photoshop.”
