Kate Middleton is pictured leaving Windsor Castle in car
with William as she heads for 'private appointment' - while Prince
makes his way to Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey
The Princess of Wales has been pictured alongside Prince William leaving Windsor Castle today - just hours after she apologised for digitally editing a family photo released on Mother's Day.
The Prince of Wales was heading to Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service this afternoon with his wife beside him.
But
rather than an extraordinary return to royal duties, MailOnline
understands that Kate was heading to a private appointment instead.
It is not known where the Princess of Wales was going, but it was clearly on her husband's route into central London because he arrived alone for the 2.45pm service attended by senior royals including Queen Camilla and Princess Anne.
Kate
had looked out of her window as William appeared to read some notes on
his phone as they were swept out of the grounds of Windsor Castle in a
blue Range Rover that later dropped William at the Abbey without her.
The mother-of-three was not expected to be seen in public until after Easter following abdominal surgery and two weeks in a private London hospital in January.
It came as Kensington Palace came under increasing pressure to release the original Mother's Day photograph after the Princess of Wales apologised
after she admitted had edited the family portrait of herself sitting
with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Prince William leaves Windsor for Westminster Abbey this afternoon with his wife the Princess of Wales next to him
Kate was seen looking out of the window of the car as William looked like he was reading notes on his phone
A smiling Prince William walks into the Commonwealth Service this afternoon
Kensington Palace yesterday released the first picture of the Princess of Wales since surgery
Kate also posted the apology on the Prince and Princess of Wales' Instagram account
The world's major photo
agencies would later 'kill' the picture after noticing signs of digital
editing, including a missing part of Princess Charlotte's sleeve and the
misaligned edge of her wrist and skirt, and the positioning of Kate's
zip.
This
morning the Princess of Wales gave an apology on social media. She
said: '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. I hope everyone
celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day'. She signed it 'C' - for
Catherine.
PR experts have described
the Mother's Day photo fiasco as a 'massive own goal' and urged royal
officials to release the unedited picture in a bid to regain the
public's trust.
Kensington Palace had
initially faced calls to reveal the truth behind the photo after the
world's top picture agencies - including the Press Association - 'killed' the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.
Kate this morning admitted that she had edited the photograph and issued a personal apology 'for any confusion' it had caused. Sky News'
analysis of the photo's metadata found the image was taken with a Canon
camera and was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac. Other
experts suggested she may have used an AI tool.
The photo of the mother-of-three beaming with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis was the first official picture released of the princess since she underwent 'planned abdominal surgery' in January.
Kate,
in a statement on social media, said: '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. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C'
While the princess publicly took the blame for altering the photo, Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the unedited photograph of Kate and her children.
PR
expert Mark Borkowski said: '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.
'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.'
Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales attending the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey
Prince Edward and Princess Sophie are seen arriving at the Commonwealth Day service
Princess Anne smiles warmly as she enters Westminster Abbey
Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester attend the 2024 Commonwealth Day Service
Geri Halliwell, 51, smiled at the cameras as she arrived at Westminster Abbey to take her seat
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden (L) and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron arrive
Mr
Borkowski said the Mother's Day photo had exposed a public relations
problem for the monarchy: 'That's the issue, there doesn't seem to be
that much joined up strategic thinking at the heart of the royal family
at the moment, which leads to these problems where it's a very difficult
organisation to manage in terms of PR.'
He
added: '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.
'They are under pressure, massively under pressure, this is a massive own goal.'
Royal
sources stressed that this was 'an amateur, family photograph taken by
the Prince of Wales'. It's understood that it was taken in Windsor last
week.
They said the couple wanted to
offer an 'informal' picture of the family together for Mother's Day and
the princess made 'minor adjustments', as she has shared in her
statement on social media.
An aide added: 'The Wales family spent Mother's Day together and had a wonderful day.'
Sky
News said an examination of the photo's metadata revealed it was saved
in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday and the
picture was taken on a Canon 5D mark IV, which retails at £2,929.99 and
used a Canon 50mm lens, priced at £1,629.99.
The
first save was made at 9.54pm on Friday night and the second was at
9.39am on Saturday morning. it's not clear if the two saves were on the
same device. The Palace has not offered any further clarification about
the edits.
It
appears Charlotte's hand was copied over from another picture as there
is an empty space where her sleeve should be (left). Kate's zip appears
to be misaligned on the photo as the top of it is further left and
appears significantly lighter than the rest of the zip (right)
Charlotte's
hair seems to end abruptly on her shoulder (left) on her right despite
her hair on the left going on for a few inches. The corner of
Charlotte's skirt (right) was pointed out as another 'editing error' by
social media sleuths
The controversy is set to overshadow the Commonwealth Day service, one of the key royal events of the year.
Heir
to the throne William and the Queen will gather with the royal family
in Westminster Abbey today in the absence of the King, who is continuing
treatment for cancer during what has been a challenging start to 2024
for the Windsors.
The Princess of Wales has admitted that she edited the Mother's Day portrait and apologised 'for any confusion' that it caused
Graham
Smith of the anti-monarchy group Republic said: 'Kate's statement
answers no questions. We can all see the photo has been edited.
'The question is why? Why haven't they released the original photo?
'A statement parsed via the press office which says nothing and explains nothing shows a general disregard for the public...'
Earlier,
Kate's uncle Gary Goldsmith defended the Waleses and claimed they would
not have been responsible for altering the image.
The
Celebrity Big Brother evictee said: 'Obviously the family wouldn't be
the ones to do any touch-ups, so if that's gone through some filter
before it's gone out to the broader world, but they wouldn't be doing
photoshopping themselves.'
He told Good
Morning Britain: 'The smiles on faces said it all for me, I thought it
was beautiful.' Mr Goldsmith added: 'And this whole 'sleevegate' thing,
just leave it alone.'
Royal author Omid
Scobie, seen as a cheerleader for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,
accused the Palace of having a 'long history of lying', and said gaining
back public trust was now 'an almost impossible task'.
Scobie wrote on X that if it was an isolated incident, it was an 'unfortunate error'.
He added: 'But with the Palace's long history of lying, covering up, and even issuing statements on behalf of family members without their permission (cc: Prince Harry), it's becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now photo) they share.
'Gaining that back at this point is an almost impossible task.'
The
princess is known to be a keen photographer and revealed in 2021 that
she takes so many family photographs that her children sometimes object.
'Everyone's like, 'Mummy, please stop taking photographs',' she said.
It comes after PA - Britain's most respected picture agency - this morning joined AP, AFP, Reuters, Getty Images and EPA in withdrawing the photo.
The
UK's national news agency said it had been 'seeking urgent
clarification about the image from Kensington Palace' since it was
released over claims it was digitally altered.
But
in a sensational development this morning, PA revealed that it had now
withdrawn the image 'in the absence of that clarification'.
A
spokesperson for PA said: 'Like other news agencies, PA Media issued
the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales
and her children in good faith yesterday.
'We
became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about
it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification
about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that
clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.'
PA became the sixth news or picture agency to retract the photo.
The PA news agency said it had withdrawn the image of Kate from its picture service today
The image of Kate and her children, said by the palace to have been taken by Prince William, was posted on social media.
Without an official response from the palace, confusion around the image had fuelled online conspiracy theories about Kate which have swirled on the internet since her abdominal surgery.
Ahead
of Kate making her statement, royal commentator Peter Hunt said: 'This
is damaging for the royals. They knew there would be intense interest in
any picture they released of Kate.
'Their
challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted
and believed when they next issue a health update.'
The
picture shows Kate sitting in a chair with her arms around Princess
Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are on either side of her, with Prince
George standing behind, as all four smile at the camera.
But there was speculation that edits had been made
to the left sleeve of Princess Charlotte's cardigan, and other areas of
the picture also raised concerns about possible manipulation.
In the social media post, Kate thanked the public 'for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months'.
Within hours of the photo being shared around the world, multiple picture agencies issued a 'kill notification' - an industry term used to retract a photo previously handed out to publications.
Late
on Sunday, the Associated Press became the first agency to 'kill' the
photo over an 'inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's
left hand'.
While AP said there was no
suggestion the photo was fake, it retracted it because it said on closer
inspection, the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not
meet the agency's photo standards.
AP
said its editorial standards state that images must be accurate and that
it does not use altered or digitally manipulated images.
The
agency's news values and principles explain that minor photo editing,
including cropping and toning and colour adjustments, are acceptable
when necessary for clear and accurate reproduction and should maintain
the authentic nature of the photograph.
Changes
in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels that substantially
alter the original scene are not acceptable. Backgrounds should not be
digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by aggressive toning.
The removal of 'red eye' from photographs is not permissible.
When
AP determined the photo appeared to have been manipulated, it issued
what is known as a 'photo kill,' an industry term that retracted the
image and instructed clients to remove the photo from their systems.
As well as PA, five other picture
agencies around the world have taken the extraordinary step of killing
the photo of Princess Kate
'At
closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,'
the AP said in its advisory. 'No replacement photo will be sent.'
A
second agency, Reuters, also withdrew the image 'following a
post-publication review'. 'We are reviewing the matter,' a spokesperson
said.
Reuters picture editors said part
of the sleeve of Kate's daughter's cardigan did not line up properly,
suggesting that the image had been altered.
The agency could not immediately establish how, why or by whom the alteration had been made.
AfP
then followed suit by issuing a 'mandatory kill notice' before Getty
Images became the fourth agency to retract the photograph. EPA this
morning also issued the same 'mandatory kill'.
A
spokesman for AfP said: 'It has come to light that the Handout issued
by Kensington Palace today of Kate and the kids had been altered,
therefore it was withdrawn from AFP systems.'
A
spokesperson for Getty Images told Sky News: 'Earlier today our picture
desk identified a problematic image provided to Getty Images by
Kensington Palace. We can confirm the image in question was removed from
our site in accordance with our editorial policy.'
Readers on X added a community note to a post from the Prince and Princess of Wales' account which shared the photo.
It
said: 'This photo is believed to be digitally altered and as a result
many major news outlets have pulled the image from their reports.'
The Princess of Wales has not been seen since she attended the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham
The Prince and Princess of
Wales's annual Christmas card image with their three children, Prince
George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, appeared to have a
Photoshop fail. Louis' middle finger was missing in the photo
William has been stepping up
royal engagements in Kate's absence. Pictured: Prince William and
Princess Kate are seen at a ceremonial welcome for The President and
the First Lady of the Republic of Korea at Horse Guards Parade on
November 21 last year
Kate left hospital on January 29
and returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to be reunited with her
children almost two weeks after having the surgery. Pictured: Kate and
William in September 2022
The
photo of the princess is the first released since she was admitted to
the London Clinic, the private hospital where the King underwent
treatment for an enlarged prostate, for a planned operation on January
16.
Charles, 75, visited his daughter-in-law's bedside after being admitted himself on January 26, the 11th day of Kate's stay.
She was also visited by her husband, William.
Kate left the hospital on January 29, almost two weeks later, and returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
Details
of the princess's condition have not been disclosed but Kensington
Palace previously said it was not cancer-related and that Kate wished
her personal medical information to remain private.
The 42-year-old future queen was last pictured in public during a Christmas Day walk in Sandringham, Norfolk.
Kate
is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter, and
William, 41, temporarily stepped back from his royal role to juggle
caring for her and their children as she recovered.
He
returned to royal duties in February and is expected to carry out an
engagement linked to his Earthshot environmental prize on Monday, as
well as accompanying the Queen at events to mark Commonwealth Day.
Earlier
this month the Army was forced into an embarrassing about-turn after
suggesting Kate would attend Trooping the Colour on June 8.
Tickets
were being sold for the event, with Kate expected to attend in her role
as Colonel of the Irish Guards, the regiment which is trooping its
colour this year.
However, it is
understood the Army did not seek approval from Kensington Palace before
publishing the page, and the website was subsequently updated to remove
the reference to her.
