Kate Middleton photo manipulation: All the editing errors explained

Kate Middleton’s latest photo for a Mother’s Day tribute, following a two-month public absence, caused quite a stir on Sunday.

The Associated Press (AP) Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Getty Images issued a “kill notice” stating that they had each deleted the Mother’s Day image of the Princess of Wales and her kids, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, from their libraries.

The agencies claimed that “at closer inspection” the photo appeared to be “manipulated” at the “source.”

The first thing that eagle-eyed social media users pointed out was that the Princess of Wales was not wearing her iconic Princess Diana’s blue sapphire ring, a jewellery item she has never been spotted without.

Social media users also claimed there was an “inconsistency” with Princess Charlotte’s hand, as part of her wrist was missing.

The photo, which was captioned to be taken in 2024, also raised eyebrows over how the trees in the background were strangely full of leaves in mid-March.

Moreover, Dr Hany Farid, a professor of computer sciences, also dubbed the photo to be a “bad Photoshop job.”

“I know we talk a lot about AI lately but it is still possible to use traditional photo-editing tools,” Farid told The Telegraph, pointing out Charlotte’s sleeve.

However, he explained that Kate “wasn’t digitally inserted in the photo” as that would be a “dramatic manipulation.”

He added that it may have been camera-manipulation which is often a result of modern cameras taking rapid photos and “create a composite to get the best expressions for a more perfect picture.”

“The fact that it is on the left arm, makes it hard to think there is something nefarious,” he continued. “I think more likely than not it was an unintentional camera-induced artefact which is genuinely benign.”