Speculation has been wild and almost quite tedious surrounding the health and well-being of the Princess of Wales. Images of Her Royal Highness have been few and far between until Sunday when she shared a photo to their official Instagram page.
It was the first official photo of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery two months ago. Since then she has stayed out of the public eye. The image, taken by the Prince of Wales, was the first of Catherine to be released since her surgery in January.
PA, Getty Images, AFP, Associated Press (AP) and Reuters had removed the image. AP noted an "inconsistency in alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand" along with a few other tweeks to the image.
PA, the UK's National News Agency, issued the above kill order seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. A kill order is an official retraction. Of course, there is little that anyone can do to remove the photo from the web, in fact it has been shared millions of times across the world, but it does mean that there is no official support or ownership of the distribution for the photo.
AP's rules only allow "minor adjustments" in certain circumstances, including cropping and toning and colour adjustments, as well as the removal of dust on camera sensors. It says changes in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels "that substantially alter the original scene" are not acceptable.
Essentially, this kill order is a hands-off or step-back notice. The Palace has said that they will not re-issue the photo which shows a close family moment, but was also issued to quell the conspiracies surrounding the Princess of Wales.
Her Royal Highness took accountability for the editing of the photo, instead of her husband who took it and the wider team that supports them. The Princess of Wales is a known, and keen photographer, but the picture has probably raised more questions than answers.
Photo showing the edited elements of the photo | BBC
The photo was only intended as an "amateur, family photograph" released to mark Mother's Day, say royal sources. The implication is that this was not a piece of professional manipulation, but some tidying up of a picture capturing a family moment.
The princess posted a brief apology on social media for what had happened to the picture. "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she said. Royal sources described her changes as "minor adjustments".
In a world of Kardashian's, Jenner's, Grande, and Swift, does photo editing actually matter? Well, no. Not of itself anyway. The issue isn't the fact that the photo was edited as such, more that there was no individual journalist who checked the photo before it was shared.
However, I suspect if anyone had checked and noticed the edits they would have published the photo anyway for the headlines and clicks that the image would get, and the same clicks that any retraction would also get.
Of course the Prince and Princess of Wales are not the same as the Kardashians, not simply because they are far more pallateable, but also because of the high standards we hold them to.
The image has not quelled speculation, people are begnning to question when the photo was taken, saying that the green grass and leaves mean it cannot be recent. However, I suspect the gardening at Kensington Palace is a step-up compared to most of our gardens and ofcourse there are still trees that have leaves on them.
What can be said is that the photo was taken on a Canon 5D Mark IV and edited twice on Photoshop 23.5 for Mac, a 2022 release of Photoshop. The young Royals do look older than they did in 2022 but it is often said that the Royals need to be seen to believed.
I tend to prefer Occams Razor and it seems outrageous to suspect anything other than light photo editing to a photo published solely for Mother's Day. It is not in the interest of the Royal Family for the Princess of Wales to be sitting for photos whilst undergoing care for an illness.
The Duke of Sussex often begs for media privacy with the support of Social Media and the general public, much of this support seems to be lacking when it comes to the privacy of the Princess of Wales.
Odd Andersen | AFP