The Mother’s Day family snap has lead to the extraordinary drama between the Palace and international news agencies (Credits: PA/Reuters)
Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted source, according to the news chief at one of the global agencies which withdrew the Princess of Wales’s Mother’s Day photo.
Phil Chetwynd, the global news director at Agence France-Presse (AFP), said Kate Middleton’s family portrait – which she later admitted editing – ‘violated our rules’.
The photo, taken by Prince William and released on the Kensington Royal X account, was withdrawn hours later when global news agencies issued ‘kill notices’ amid concerns it had been manipulated.
Mr Chetwynd said the decision to pull a royal image from circulation was ‘rare’, describing it as a ‘big deal’. He said the agency decides to kill something ‘on the basis of manipulation’ once a year.
He told BBC Radio 4: ‘The previous kills have been from the North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency, just to give you some background and context.’
When Ros Atkins asked him if Kensington Palace was still considered a ‘trusted source’ he said ‘absolutely not’.
He added: ‘It violated our rules, it wasn’t even very well Photoshopped.’
The Mother’s Day photo (Credits: via Reuters)
The picture was released to reassure the public amid escalating conspiracy theories online over the state of Kate’s health in recent weeks, but in an extraordinary turn of events sparked what is being dubbed ‘Kategate’ and even ‘Sleevegate’.
The Washington Post published a sketch depicting the Princess of Wales as a cutout with Prince William as the puppetmaster.
German tabloid Bild labelled the Princess of Wales as ‘Fake-Kate’.
TV host John Oliver shocked viewers after he joked that Kate ‘could be dead’ as he appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
Phil Chetwynd (Credits: AFP via Getty Images)
As conspiracies continue to swirl, fans of the future Queen have voiced support, with a Palace insider telling The Telegraph that Kate felt ‘awful’ about the altered image, saying she had tried to make the photo the ‘best it could be’.
Prince William has carried out public engagements alone without Kate since her abdominal surgery in mid-January, followed by her recovery.
William attended the Diana Legacy Award to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary, with Prince Harry only joining via a video call and after his big brother had left the building.
Prince William finally said something about his wife following the Photoshop fiasko, joking that she is ‘the arty one’ of the two during a visit at a youth charity in Hammersmith in West London.
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