Kate Middleton's Mother's Day photo controversy takes new turn after Buckingham Palace honour

Kate Middleton has been defended by the curator of a new exhibition, who described the retouching of royal photos as "part of the creative process," which is a new turn after Mother's Day photo controversy that revolves around Princess.

The Alessandro Nasini, the curator of the Buckingham Palace exhibition celebrating 100 years of royal photographs, emphasized that retouching remains an essential tool in royal portrait photography, reported GB news. 

This practice, which can range from cropping images to removing backgrounds, has been defended despite controversy over a Mother's Day photo taken by Prince William earlier this year. Nasini noted that many of the photos on display at the King's Gallery have been retouched.

Nasini's comments came two months after six major picture agencies issued "kill notices" to withdraw a photograph of the Princess of Wales with her children for Mother's Day.

They claimed it had been digitally altered. Kate, 42, later admitted she experimented with editing the family photo.

Despite this, Nasini has asserted retouching is a vital tool in his industry.

He said: "I am not familiar with those particular [media tests] but retouching per se has always been part of photography really since the inception of photography.

"It's very important specifically for portrait photography because it's a creative process. It's not press photography, it's not reportage, it's not commercial photography.

"It's just simply a tool that has always been used by photographers to translate their vision, the aesthetics, into the final print. It's part of the creative process. It's just one of the tools."

For the unversed Kate has recently been honoured after the image of the princess bears a "striking resemblance" to an 1864 portrait of Alexandra, Princess of Wales, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter from the Royal Collection, is hang nearby.

The King's Gallery is set to unveil a collection of previously unseen royal photographs in its latest exhibition. This display marks the debut of personal photographs from the Royal Collection, offering a glimpse into 100 years of royal photography. 

Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography' opens tomorrow (Friday, May 17) at The King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, and closes on October 6, 2024.