3/12/24, 11:24 PM British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job - The Verge

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British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job / Someone

appears to be indulging in the arts of Adobe poorly. And that
someone is the princess, herself.

By Alex Cranz and Elizabeth Lopatto

Updated Mar 11, 2024, 7:20 PM GMT+8

170 Comments (170 New)

Screenshot by Alex Cranz/The Verge

After months of speculation on the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, the Princess

of Wales and future Queen of England, the Royal Family released an image on
Sunday that appeared to have been edited. It’s so edited that the Associated Press
and Reuters issued rare kill notifications for it.

It is incredible in its ineptitude. If the goal was to reassure the public about
Middleton’s whereabouts, the image has backfired spectacularly.

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3/12/24, 11:24 PM British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job - The Verge

The photo created such a skirmish that by Monday morning, the photo’s editor
had to issue an apology to the official X account of the Prince and Princess of
Wales.

Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.

I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we
shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy
Mother’s Day. C

That “C” signature stands for Catherine, Princess of Wales, aka, Kate Middleton.
Appearing to take credit for editing her own press photos is a twist we didn’t see
coming for a family whose image is professionally curated.

Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to

express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I
hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024

The image is unsettling at first glance. Everyone is smiling so brightly they look
like a Snapchat filter. Middleton is seated in the image — understandable given
she had some sort of undisclosed abdominal procedure in January — but the
perspective seems wrong. Are her arms really that long? The more you stare at
the image the more you feel like you’re reading Highlights in the waiting room of
your dentist. Can you find every problem in the picture?

It is still up on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram page so you can go
over examine it for yourself, but here are a few screenshots to highlight areas
that look like they were edited by someone new to Photoshop and leaning heavy
on the Heal tool.

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3/12/24, 11:24 PM British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job - The Verge

1/4 Not how Charlotte’s skirt blends beautifully into her sweater. This happens to me too.
That’s why it’s so important to carefully mask. Screenshot by Alex Cranz/The Verge

This image was released months after Middleton disappeared from public view.
The Royal Family has been cagey about her health and what has led to her
absence, leading to conspiracy theories. Dropping a clearly edited image of her
on Mother’s Day in the UK isn’t going to help matters.

And for the British monarchy, image is everything, as revealed in Spare, the
memoir by Prince Harry. In it, Middleton’s brother-in-law writes about how he
was sacrificed to the British tabloids to distract from stories that might have
made his father (King Charles) or his brother (Prince William, heir apparent)
look bad. The art of image management is key for the royal family, and has been
since Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was broadcast live. An important part of the
royals’ jobs is appearing in photos.

The palace is chummy enough with the British press that there’s a system — the
Royal Rota — for covering them. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and
Meghan, bowed out of the Royal Rota, as part of their general retreat from royal
duties. Managing the press was also the forte of Middleton’s mother in law, Diana
Spencer, who managed to secure a divorce through a bombshell interview with
Martin Bashir.

Prior to Middleton’s admission, the photo raised some questions. It was certainly
possible that it was just a shitty Photoshop used to stitch together several photos
so that the best expression on each person’s face was used. (Children are
notorious for being difficult to photograph.) But the job is so clumsy, particularly
around the hands, that one had to wonder if the intent was to keep us all talking
about Middleton’s prolonged absence.

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3/12/24, 11:24 PM British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job - The Verge

Update, March 11th 7:15 ET AM: Added the short statement Kate Middleton
posted to X claiming responsibility for the edited image.

170 COMMENTS (170 NEW)

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