Kate Middleton has broken her silence in a public apology following a furore in her newly-released Mother's Day photograph.
On 10th March, the Princess of Wales took to social media to share a picture of herself with her children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, to honour Mothering Sunday.
It was the first publicly released and royally-approved photograph of Kate following abdominal surgery last month, following growing speculation about her wellbeing.
However, four international photo agencies withdrew use of the picture over concerns it had been “manipulated” .
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), Kate issued a statement offering her apologies for the circumstances around the photograph.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she wrote. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.
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“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day.”
Getty Images, AFP, Reuters and Associated Press (AP) have all pulled the photo from their databases.
In a statement to Sky News, AP said: “The Associated Press initially published the photo, which was issued by Kensington Palace. The AP later retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards.
“The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand.”
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
