As British royals struggle to calm rumors, the agency flags an older edited photo

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, admitted last week that she had digitally altered a photo of her with her children, news agencies began examining Catherine’s gallery of photos of the royal family for other examples of doctoring.

It didn’t last long: On Monday, Getty Images posted an editorial advisory on a second photo taken by Catherine, of Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, saying the image had been altered before it was released by the palace. .

In a statement, the news agency said that “in accordance with its editorial policy, it has placed an editor’s note on a distributed image stating that the image has been digitally enhanced at the source.”

The second altered photo raises even more thorny questions about the way the British royal family communicates with the public. It also brings more attention to Catherine, who has been caught in a maelstrom of rumors and speculation since she underwent abdominal surgery in January and withdrew from the public eye.

The Mother’s Day photo of her with her children, taken by her husband, Prince William, and released 10 days ago, was intended to calm the storm of questions. But it sparked a new round of speculation after The Associated Press, Reuters, Getty and others pulled the image, saying it had been improperly manipulated.

Catherine, a keen amateur photographer, has documented the royal family in many private moments and sometimes edited the results, she admitted last week. Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, where she and William have their offices, distributed these photos to the news media and regularly appear on the front pages of British newspapers.

The photo of the Queen flanked by ten children, which was shot by Catherine at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in August 2022, appears to have several visual inconsistencies. Most noticeably, there is a mismatch in the vertical line on the Queen’s tartan skirt.

Kensington Palace declined to comment on the photo, which was released on the Queen’s 97th birthday last year.

Catherine apologized on social media for the Mother’s Day photo, writing: “Like many amateur photographers, I experiment with editing from time to time. “I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused.”

As rumors swirled, the palace declined to comment on a video that emerged on Monday showing Catherine and William walking out of a grocery store near their home in Windsor, west of London.

If verified, the video, posted on US gossip site TMZ, would be the first images of Catherine since before she entered the hospital. It also appeared on the website of British tabloid The Sun, which published front-page stills on Tuesday, as did another tabloid, The Daily Mail.

The video appears to show Catherine, in sportswear, walking into a parking lot with William, who is wearing a baseball cap. Both carry a shopping bag. The Sun previously reported that Catherine went shopping on Saturday and watched her children play sports on Sunday.

“Great to see you again, Kate!” said the newspaper, which was among the 42-year-old princess’s most devoted supporters.

The heavy reporting was in stark contrast to the tabloids’ handling of a paparazzi shot of Catherine riding in a car with her mother, which was posted on TMZ two weeks ago. Newspapers refused to publish the photo even though it had been widely circulated on social media, citing Kensington Palace’s appeal that Catherine be allowed to recover from her medical treatment privately.

The British news media has struggled to balance its usual respect for privacy in royal health matters with what has become an epic daily stream of online speculation about Catherine’s condition, as well as that of King Charles III. Buckingham Palace announced last month that the king had been diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer after undergoing surgery for an enlarged prostate in January.

Although Charles has appeared in recent photos and videos, including with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation about the severity of his illness – or even unfounded rumors about his death. featured in fake news reports in Russia on Monday.

Telegram channels reported that Charles had died, citing a false press release from Buckingham Palace, dated March 18, which said: “The King passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.” The format and short wording were similar to those used by the palace in September 2022 to announce Elizabeth’s death.

The rumor that Charles had become one of Britain’s shortest-serving monarchs spread so quickly in Russia that it began to compete with analysis of last weekend’s election results, which put President Vladimir V. Putin on course to become the longest-serving to become Russia’s serving leader since Catherine. the Great in the 18th century.

After the false story was picked up by news sites like Sputnik and spread to Ukraine, British embassies in both countries felt compelled to issue denials, with both falling back on a term coined by former President Donald J. Trump in the United States popularized.

“Reports of the death of King Charles III of Great Britain are fake!” the embassy in Moscow posted on X. “We would like to inform you that the news about the death of King Charles III is fake,” the embassy in Kiev wrote.

A Buckingham Palace official told reporters that the palace would not consider the reports worthy of any response.