AMANDA PLATELL: If we all don’t give Kate a break, maybe she’ll take a break from us. And where would the royal family be…

After a week in which the Princess of Wales was mercilessly and monstrously attacked for her Mother’s Day Photoshop mishap – accused of deceit, dishonesty and deliberate deception – we are entering uncharted territory.

Because her critics certainly run the risk of pushing Kate to avoid public life altogether. And honestly, who can blame her if she chooses to go underground?

After being so viciously attacked, there is every possibility that a ‘shell-shocked’ Kate could choose to back out of her future royal duties once she recovers from her surgery. If people keep treating her so badly, why on earth would she want to appear on call for them?

Let us not forget that it is entirely within its power, except when it comes to certain formal obligations such as state affairs, to do just that. She is the mistress of her diary and her attendance at many events is entirely at her discretion.

Imagine where our already exhausted and painfully bleak monarchy would be left without its shining star. An ailing king, an elderly queen, William, Princess Anne and the Edinburghs.

We only have to remember how disappointingly boring Prince William looked on the red carpet at the Baftas last month without Kate glittering by his side. Without her constant presence, the light would go out of the royal family.

Why would she be accused like that if she was just doing what millions of mothers do: photoshopping their family snaps to keep everyone happy and releasing them for Mother’s Day?

And why would she be so hounded if she was just doing what millions of mothers have done: Photoshopping family snaps to keep everyone happy?

Insiders say she “just wanted to publish a nice photo of her family.” Who not?

As we hadn’t seen her since Christmas Day at Sandringham, she also tried to reassure us that she and her young children were doing just fine and that the ugly rumors on social media about her health were nonsense.

Kate was watching us and all she got was mud in her eye.

It doesn’t take a doctor to conclude that the past week would have caused her immeasurable pain, adding to her stress and, it is feared, prolonging her recovery.

She is one of the most famous and photographed women in the world, with all the pressure that entails. Surely we shouldn’t be saying, “Where the hell are you?” but she sent her wishes for a speedy recovery.

She sacrificed so much of her own privacy to become William’s wife, to carry the heavy burden of becoming the future queen and to raise an heir and spares, George, Charlotte and Louis – and to give them all a little to make it look like the normal, happy family life William never had – the least we can do is respect her privacy while she recovers.

Since her engagement to Prince William in 2010, Kate hasn’t put a foot wrong. For more than a decade, she has only improved the image of the royal family, with her decency, integrity and, yes, glamour.

And all with a natural grace, like Diana’s, and the ability to seem as at home with ordinary people as with kings and queens.

The work she has done in early learning, addiction and with homeless charities is not only tireless but also highly respected. She is also an advocate for mental health issues, which is ironic considering that those who attack her now pay so little attention to her own mental health.

Honestly, I don’t know how she does it. And more and more often I wonder why it bothers her.

After being so viciously attacked, there is every possibility that a ‘shell-shocked’ Kate could choose to back out of her future royal duties

She has already had to put up with the Sussexes’ departure to California, which has made life so much harder for her and William, with double the workload and double the worry of keeping the shaky old Firm afloat.

She has suffered in dignified silence through the terrible things her once-beloved brother-in-law Harry said about her in his book Spare, and Meghan’s sly comments in her 2021 Oprah interview.

And more recently, she was named by Meghan’s mouthpiece Omid Scobie in his book as one of the so-called ‘racist’ royals who questioned the skin color of her unborn son Archie.

She has never complained, never explained, because she respects the dictum of the Queen’s royal dignity. While we’ve heard some of how the Sussexes’ slings and arrows have enraged William, especially the attacks on his beloved wife, there have been no whispers from Kate. There is no ugly ‘Kate Camp’ leaking beastly stories. But how they must have hurt her.

Because no story about Kate and William goes by without a nasty story being leaked by friends of Harry and Meghan. An unnamed member of ‘the Sussex camp’ reportedly blasted the photoshopped photo, claiming: ‘This is not a mistake Meghan would ever make.’

A day later, the Sussexes issued an official statement through a spokesperson denying that a source close to the couple had made the comment.

Very good, but the damage had already been done. And let’s not forget that, when it comes to touching up photos, There are those air-brushed images of Harry and Meghan in glossy American magazines – one of which ridiculously gave Harry a full head of red hair. The couple’s 2021 Time Magazine cover was even ridiculed by one US expert for being ‘the most airbrushed photo I’ve ever seen’.

Does anyone seriously think that a recovering Kate has plotted to deceive the public into having William take a photo of the family in the backyard so that she can spend hours adding a skinny tree to it herself, misalign the window sill and adjust the cuff? on Charlotte’s vest?

It was a photo for Mother’s Day, for crying out loud, a day when we should all be celebrating mothers, instead of pouring bile on them because they may have made mistakes in their attempts to do the right thing.

Let’s all give Kate a break. Because if we don’t, she could very well take a break from us.