Royal expert brands speculations about Princess Kate’s health “appalling”
Royal expert brands speculations about Princess Kate’s health “appalling”
The mystery surrounding Kate Middleton has left both royal fans and experts with question marks. When it was made clear that the Princess of Wales’ Mother’s Day picture was manipulated, conspiracy theories about her health—and even marriage to Prince William—spread across the internet, making the situation even more strange.
On Monday, a video picturing Kate visiting the Windsor Farm Shop was released to the world, and the future queen appears to be doing well. Even so, after the manipulated picture, some are still doubtful, while others see it as a great sign that she will soon be back to her royal duties.
The rumors about Kate Middleton’s health have been ongoing ever since her abdominal surgery was announced in mid-January. A royal expert is demanding an end to the “appalling” speculations.
When Kensington Palace announced that Kate Middleton underwent a “planned abdominal surgery” in mid-January, royal fans were left in shock. Not only did the future queen undergo surgery, but at the same time, King Charles got treatment for an enlarged prostate, which later turned out to be a cancer diagnosis.
Kate Middleton apologized for edited Mother’s Day picture
The palace has only offered the public minor updates on her recovery, and in the last weeks, the mystery surrounding her health has grown by the minute.
First, American news outlet TMZ published the first picture of Kate taken after the surgery. On Mother’s Day, the first official photo reached the public through the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media outlets. However, it ended badly; some might even say it was a scandal.
The picture turned out to have been manipulated, and just a day after it was published, the Princess of Wales apologized.
“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,” Kate said through the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media platforms.
It took only a few hours for photography experts and social media users to begin analyzing the picture, finding several errors and examples of bad editing.
Kensington Palace ‘no longer a trusted source,’ news agency director says
Another news agency that used a “kill notice” was the well-renowned Agence France-Presse (AFP). Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Media Show, Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director, said that Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted source.
“No, absolutely not. Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source the bar is raised … We sent out notes to all our teams at the moment to be absolutely super more vigilant about the content coming across our desk — even from what we would call trusted sources,” he said, as reported by Deadline.
On social media, conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton spread shortly after her surgery. Some argued it wasn’t an abdominal surgery, while others claimed her marriage to Prince William was the real reason for her absence.
As Kate admitted to having edited the Mother’s Day picture herself, the conspiracy theories grew more extensive, and the fact that Kensington Palace didn’t respond by sharing the original image didn’t help.
While Kate Middleton has received most criticism, some experts say she isn’t to blame. Royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News that the palace is responsible for what she calls “yet another public relations disaster.”
