Kensington Palace steers clear of PR blunder amid Kate photo controversy

Downing Street reportedly viewed Kensington Palace’s handling of a controversial photo of the Princess of Wales as “foolish and unprofessional,” according to royal author Valentine Low.

The incident occurred in March 2024, when the Palace released a Mother’s Day image of Kate Middleton with her three children. 

Within hours, major international news agencies including Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse issued rare retractions, citing “manipulation” and “inconsistencies” in the photograph.

The fallout fueled speculation about the Princess’s health, which had already been under the media microscope following her abdominal surgery earlier that January. 

Low suggests that the situation highlighted the delicate balance the Palace must maintain in managing both public perception and political optics, particularly when even seemingly benign gestures, like a family photo, can attract intense scrutiny.

Days after the Mother’s Day photo of the Princess of Wales drew criticism, Kate Middleton issued a statement acknowledging she had “occasionally experimented with editing” and apologised for any confusion caused by the altered image.

The incident also sparked comparisons to past royal crises. Veteran royal writer Richard Kay, writing in the Daily Mail during the height of the scandal, likened the situation to the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage. 

Kay argued that, similar to the 1990s, political leaders were absent at a critical moment suggesting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was “missing in action” in 2024, just as John Major had allegedly been in the earlier crisis.

Low pushed back on that assessment, noting that Major was in fact heavily involved at the time and questioning what additional action Kay expected from Sunak.

Ultimately, the doctored photo controversy became a turning point in discussions about the Princess of Wales’s public role, the Palace’s approach to media management.