LIZ JONES: The palace can no longer be trusted. They think we’re all stupid. Now we’re thinking: Did Kate even write the message? Is she too sick?

What a rollercoaster of emotions last weekend! I was in Tesco on Sunday – surrounded by people buying last-minute tulips for Mother’s Day – when I looked at my phone.

Stopped. I looked again and then said cheerfully: ‘Yes!’ And: ‘Look, she’s doing well!’ And, ‘Oh thank God.’

I rushed home to study the photo of Kate and her children, released to show the world that she is well and on the mend. But then…Hmm.

I went outside to stare at the trees. Blossoms, yes, but no leaves. Another look at the snap. Her expression was a little off. A bit too bland and a bit at Cheerful.

After a few months off and a lot of speculation, I had expected a half smile, something slightly wry.

And why was Louis wearing a Christmas sweater? Didn’t the floor look quite shabby?

Twitter (now X) blew up, but I refuse to call the people who posted their concerns “trolls.”

We are not the villains here. We are concerned citizens, desperate for crumbs of comfort about our favorite royal family, our top person.

By enlarging the photo on our phone screens, we even beat the official news agencies to spotting the discrepancies in that shot.

Ordinary people, worried and wondering why, if the photo was indeed manipulated, William couldn’t just take a damn normal family photo on his phone and post it!

We all do it, many times a day. We didn’t want or expect a perfectly posed photo, just something not to worry about. And we’ve been worried since that woman was bullied into a car driven by Kate’s mother last week? I didn’t sleep at all.

Twenty-five years ago, when I had just been appointed editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine, I sat in a photographer’s studio putting my first cover to bed. On the next computer, someone was working on a rival cover. I watched in amazement as a Hollywood star’s nose was removed and a better, more streamlined nose was placed in its place. Wow!

That was the moment I realized that people could be fooled by sorcery – with potentially catastrophic consequences. Even before the age of rampant social media, I could see the flashing warning signs of what lay ahead.

I then realized that young women will starve themselves and undergo cosmetic surgery based on the fragile premise of a lie because they want to achieve a perfection depicted on the cover of a magazine that does not exist in nature.

Remember Kate Winslet’s furore over a GQ cover where her legs were digitally made longer and slimmer?

As an editor, I have called for authenticity marks to be placed on photos and for retouches to be banned. But of course I was ignored. And now look where we are. A worldwide scandal over a royal photo that leading photo agencies were so concerned about that they felt they had to pull it.

Given what is possible today with AI and digital deception, isn’t it even more important that the Royal Family and its minions are authentic and transparent in all their dealings with the public and the press, as we all pay for their palaces and their privacy? ?

It is such a blunder, so catastrophic for our faith in the monarchy and I believe Kate has once again been badly let down by the Palace’s media operation and advisers.

News agency AFP was among those to withdraw the image over concerns it had been tampered with

The Palace was forced to respond when PA followed other agencies this morning and withdrew the photo

That very first statement, when she was admitted to the London Clinic, seemed sincere and sincere. Realizing the attention and speculation her disappearance from public view would cause, the Princess deliberately reassured us, in a kind and thoughtful manner: ‘The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate…’ And: ‘ She wants to apologize…’

Nothing since then. No updates beyond boring and meaningless, leaving the unsavory speculation about her health and the state of her marriage to spread on social media and in the foreign press – New York Times and American Vogue – to ponder.

Why couldn’t they have just released a photo of Kate from the coronation for Mother’s Day, with a little note from her? That would have been fine. We don’t expect her to put on makeup during her break. Now we think: did she do that? even write the message that accompanies the controversial snap?

And more. Why were there no fewer than 16 deviations in the photo? Was the photo an old Christmas photo, simply repurposed? In any case, the children look just as hysterical and excited as they did on Christmas Day.

Why wasn’t a licensed photographer with decades of professional reputation sent to take the photo? Was she too sick for that?

The palace clearly can no longer be trusted, given what happened Monday morning when an official tweet from Kensington Palace finally arrived.

‘Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with montage. I would like to apologize for any confusion…” It is signed with a “C.”

What??!! But Kate is not an ‘amateur’, she is an experienced photographer (she is patron of the Royal Photographic Society, after all). And it was William who took it! She is a perfectionist and would never do anything bad!

Now I don’t want to accuse KP of lying. But I think the Palace, not the Princess, treats the general public with contempt. The Palace thinks we are all stupid and will never question anything the Welsh say.

I’m sure that Kate, as a young, media-savvy, empathetic person, who never puts a step wrong, never gets caught saying the wrong thing, or wears something that doesn’t quite fit or is wrinkled, wouldn’t make a mistake like this .

I believe she either didn’t get her hands on this photo or some mistakes were made afterwards.

What we do know is that this debacle is fueling even more speculation – even that she is refusing to cooperate with the Palace.

Whatever is going on, I can only imagine Kate’s sadness, her shock and her anger. And whoever is responsible should be fired. Today.