The Princess of Wales was seen leaving Windsor Castle with Prince William after she admitted to being responsible for “manipulating” a photo of her family released on Mother’s Day.
The controversy erupted when several photo agencies removed the photograph, the first that Princess Catherine released after her abdominal surgery.
The Associated Press (AP), AFP, Getty Images, and Reuters all removed the photo from their systems Monday. According to AP, “at closer examination, it appears that the image has been manipulated.”
A spokesman for AP told The Telegraph that “the photo shows an inconsistent alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”
AFP cited “editorial issues” as the cause for removing the photo from their systems. Getty Images also did so for “editorial purposes.” Reuters removed the image “after a post-publication evaluation” as well.
The standard practice of picture agencies is to remove edited images.
Yesterday, the British press reported that Kensington Palace refused to comment.
Kate, who was in London, released a surprise statement on Monday morning, British Time, apologizing for the confusion.
She said, “Like many amateurs photographers, I sometimes experiment with editing.”
“I would like to apologize for any confusion caused by the family photo we shared yesterday.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day.
Kate released the photo taken by Prince William for the first time since her “planned operation” in January.
Thank you for your kind words and support during the past two months. Kate captioned the photo, “Wishing everyone a happy Mother’s Day.”
The Prince and Princess’ Instagram page still has the photo.
Kate was seen with William leaving Windsor Castle on Monday in a vehicle. William was heading to Westminster Abbey, London, for the annual Commonwealth Day service.
Kate was not there and reported that she was en route to a private appointment. Kate was not present – According to The Daily Mail, Kate was on her way for a private meeting.
Kate, who had been out of the public eye for two months, was spotted last week in the backseat as her mother, Carole, drove near Windsor Castle.
The last time she was seen in public before that was Christmas Day of last year, when she and William brought their three children to church.
After the photo of the Princess’s Mother’s Day was posted on Instagram, comments suggested that it had been altered digitally.
The image of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve was a mystery, as was the location of Kate’s wedding band, the reason why the tree behind her did not appear to be from the correct time of year, and where Kate’s ring was.