Kensington Palace refuses to release unedited photo of Kate

Kensington Palace has refused to release an unedited Mother’s Day photo of Kate Middleton after she admitted to doctoring it.

The Princess of Wales hasn’t been seen for nearly two months after undergoing abdominal surgery, prompting far-fetched conspiracy theories about her well-being.

But a photograph of Kate smiling with her arms around her children did little to stop the speculation after news agencies determined it had been manipulated.

Kate has since admitted the photo – which Kensington Palace said was taken by Prince William in Windsor – was edited by herself.

She said in a social media post today: ‘Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.

‘I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.’

Now Kensington Palace has said it would not reissue the original unedited photograph.

However, Kate’s apology alone may do little good for the palace’s image, said Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis consultant.

‘It’s plausible she’s at home playing with the computer and using an AI tool, but if they’re really going to regain any sort of trust they should release the unedited photo, it can’t be that bad if they just made a few tweaks,’ he said.

‘I find they have risen to the challenge, provided the statement as an explanation – the question is with all the conspiracy theories running around, is whether people believe it and I’m not sure that they will.’

As Kate is recovering from her surgery, royal protocol means she doesn’t have the usual pack of official photographers with her.

She has been in Adelaide Cottage, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, since she was discharged from a London clinic in January.

So the informal photo taken by William has instead shown, Borkowski said, how the royal PR machine isn’t as ‘joined up’ as what some may think.

‘It’s a nightmare, even the softer stories of Edward turning 60 this week haven’t really resonated at all because no one’s interested in them, they’re interested in the stars they’re not interested in the supporting cast and that is a problem at the moment,’ he added.

‘They are under pressure, massively under pressure, this is a massive own goal.’

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