Kate Middleton has been making headlines after her recent Mother's Day family photo was called fake by her fans after several photo agencies pulled the photo claiming it to be digitally manipulated. A day later Kate apologized, admitting on Twitter that she "edited" as like many "amateur photographers she likes experimenting" with Photoshop.
Since then, several social media users have been claiming that the Princess of Wales used a photo from her 2016 Vogue magazine cover as the foundation for the now widely circulated picture. However, the claim is false as the photo was taken a couple of days earlier by Prince William before Kate edited and posted the image.
Wild Theory
Ruby Naldrett, a social media professional at the UK tabloid The Daily Mirror, presented her theory on X, claiming Monday that the picture was altered using a photo from Kate's 2016 Vogue photoshoot.
"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," Naldrett claimed in her tweet which has now gone viral and has been viewed more than 3 million times in just a few hours.
Naldrett compared the Vogue cover photo, taken eight years ago, side by side with the recent family photo released by Kensington Palace on Sunday to commemorate Mother's Day in the UK.
Social media users in no time started believing in the claim. "That's why her hair is blurry and translucent from them enhancing where the hat flattened it," one user tweeted as he theorized in the response section.
The user also referenced the fact that Kate was wearing a wide-brim hat for the magazine cover shoot. One user wrote: "It's nothing alike. It's just the same face with the same smile, because it's the same person. Otherwise it's not remotely similar."
Another user wrote, "This is 'spot on'....because it's the same woman's face."
End of All Doubts
Middleton finally put an end to all the speculation on early Monday by admitting the photo was indeed manipulated.
"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," the princess wrote. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."
She concluded by saying, "I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day" — which was Sunday in the UK — and ending casually with "C," for her first name, Catherine.
The photo under scrutiny featured the Princess of Wales seated in a chair at Windsor Castle, accompanied by her three children: 10-year-old Prince George, 8-year-old Princess Charlotte, and 5-year-old Prince Louis.
Eagle-eyed fans quickly identified various Photoshop discrepancies, such as Charlotte's sleeve disappearing in a blur and an overall appearance described as "AI-like."
Although Kensington Palace has declined to share the original photo, it photo was likely taken in haste just two days ago and was photoshopped by Kate. The Daily Mail reported that Kate's Mother's Day photo was taken by Prince William on Friday in only 40 minutes, and it was later released on Sunday after the Princess had used Photoshop twice to "make it the best it can be."
Prince of Wales had reportedly taken the photo with a $3,200 Canon DSLR.
Hence the photo was manipulated but the claim that Kate's face was lifted from a 2016 Vogue cover is unlikely to be true.
