Concerns are mounting over Kate Middleton’s health following the doctored first official photo of her after the abdominal surgery she underwent despite the Princess of Wales attempting to… put out the fire by admitting she was the one who tampered with the frame.
In particular, the publication on Sunday of a photo of her smiling and surrounded by her children for Mother’s Day was supposed to put an end to the rumours and scenarios centred on her absence from public life for almost two months following her serious abdominal surgery.
However, the discovery of a series of tampering with the snapshot, the coordinated withdrawal of the photo by five of the major news outlets that had published it, and Kate taking responsibility for it, saying she was “experimenting with the editing”, had the complete opposite effect.
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“In the current circumstances, any editing of a photo, even the smallest and without the intention to mislead, can raise suspicions,” reckons Chris Morris, director of the verification website Full Fact.
“Conspiracy theories emerge when there is an information gap, so if you want to be believed, you have to operate transparently.”
Kate is in the habit of posting “amateur” photos, particularly of her children.
But “in an age of false information (…) who can believe that even the royal family publishes doctored photos?” asks journalist Hannah Furness in the Telegraph.
Is this photo from an old Kate Vogue cover?
Holy shit, I just did this myself and it’s a pixel perfect fit. Genuinely it’s 100% that this is the vogue cover photo photoshopped in.
Source: https://t.co/ff7cZc74Bn https://t.co/57BrLHtkxv pic.twitter.com/xO3KpUnfNB
— Paul Lomax (@PaulLomax) March 11, 2024
my analysis of the kate middleton photo saga is that they took her face from the vogue cover she did years ago and edited it in pic.twitter.com/JLXts08zp5
— Ruby Naldrett (@rubynaldrett) March 11, 2024
Despite, Kate’s admission of responsibility and apology, conspiracy theories have been “on fire”, with social media users posting entire videos, attempting to prove that the photo is more doctored, thus leaving hints about the state of health of Prince William’s wife.
In fact, many are claiming that the photo of Kate Middleton is from an old Vogue cover.
As Peter Hunt, a former BBC correspondent, notes, “people will now be asking themselves whether they can be trusted the next time they publish information about the health” of members of the royal family, especially as King Charles is suffering from cancer.
