An image taken by Kate Middleton of the late Queen Elizabeth II with her grandkids was “digitally” altered, according to a photo agency that examined the snap after the Princess of Wales’ Mother’s Day portrait scandal.
The latest royal family photograph facing scrutiny was reportedly shot by Middleton, 42, in August 2022 and released by Buckingham Palace on April 21, 2023 to honor the late queen who would have turned 97 that day.
In the picture, the late Queen is sitting on a couch with 10 of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren inside Balmoral Castle.
But in a new editor’s note, Getty Images warned the image “has been digitally enhanced at source.”
Getty flagged the picture after reexamining photos released by the royal family following Middleton’s admission to editing a Mother’s Day family portrait.
The photo appears to have multiple oddities as first reported by The Telegraph.
One of the most glaring inconsistencies can be seen on the side of the queen’s tartan skirt. The plaid pattern does not line up and looks like it was cut and repositioned in the image.
The green couch the queen is sitting on has a similar misalignment next to great-granddaughter Savannah Phillips and below Prince George’s hand. And a patch of black can be seen behind George’s shirt color — where the pattern of his cousin’s dress should be.
A dark spot next to Prince Louis’ ear also appears as well as a jagged outline revealing other colors behind his silhouette. Another jagged and random strip of color can be spotted directly next to the arm of the couch.
Last week, major news wires issued a “kill” alert for a photo posted by Middleton of herself and her three children after finding that it had been manipulated.
The princess later admitted to editing the portrait.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a statement posted on X last Monday. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”
Kensington Palace shared the Mother’s Day photo amid concerns about Middleton’s health after she underwent abdominal surgery. But the doctored pic only further fueled conspiracy theories about her whereabouts as she hadn’t been seen in public for several weeks after the surgery.
Another noticeable — though unrelated — aspect of the Queen’s photo is that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are missing from the group of her grandkids. The pair, children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, live across the ocean in California and were not in Scotland visiting the queen that summer.
Kensington Palace declined to comment when reached by the Telegraph.
