Princess Catherine apologizes for editing photos and creating ‘confusion’
Catherine, Princess of Wales, apologized on Monday for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, which was recalled by several news agencies on Sunday after they determined the image had been doctored.
The decision to recall the photo sparked another firestorm of speculation about Catherine, who has not been seen in public since undergoing abdominal surgery almost two months ago. In her statement, the 42-year-old princess attributed the change to a photographer’s innocent desire to retouch the image.
“Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing,” Catherine wrote in a social media post. “I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused.”
The photo, which marked Mother’s Day in Britain, showed a smiling Catherine surrounded by her children, George, Charlotte and Louis. Hours after Kensington Palace released the photo, The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse issued advisories urging news organizations to remove the image.
The AP said that after an inspection of the photo after publication, the editors determined that the image “shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.” The source of the photo said he “manipulated the image in a manner that does not meet AP photo standards.”
Kensington Palace said William took the photo last week in Windsor, where the family lives in Adelaide Cottage, in the grounds of Windsor Castle. But Catherine is known as a keen photographer, and the palace often distributes her photos of the family.
A palace official said Catherine had made minor adjustments to what was intended as an informal photo of the family together for Mother’s Day. The official reiterated that William had taken the photo, although Catherine had edited it.
The photo appeared on the front pages of newspapers and on websites around the world, including The New York Times website. The Times removed the photo from an article about it on Sunday evening.