Parts of the American media today seized on the Princess of Wales photograph fiasco after she publicly took the blame for the manipulated Mother’s Day picture.
CNN revealed it had begun a review into all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace, while the New York Times criticised ‘another self-created crisis’.
The Los Angeles Times described the incident as a ‘major royal oops’ on its front page, and the New York Post ran a story entitled ‘Team Harry and Meg pile on Kate’.
The Washington Post said the photo had triggered a ‘media crisis’ amid a clash of ‘celebrities’ aspiration for perfection and journalism’s truth-telling mission’.
And a Good Morning America reporter said that despite Kate’s personal apology, the story will only go away if she appears in public or the original picture is released.
The photo of Kate and her children, taken by William, was the first to be issued since the Princess’s abdominal surgery and was released by the palace on Sunday.
But it was withdrawn with a ‘kill’ notice by six international picture agencies hours later, including the UK’s PA news agency, amid suspicions it had been manipulated.
The news featured on the front pages of several US newspapers today, including the New York Times which said: ‘Photo Inflames a PR crisis – An image meant to douse speculation about the Princess of Wales’s health did the opposite. An analysis.’
Mark Landler, who is the London bureau chief for the newspaper, wrote: ‘The British royal family faces a storm of questions about how it communicates with the press and public, whether Catherine manipulated other family photos she released in previous years, and whether she felt driven to retouch this photo to disguise the impact of her illness.
‘It adds up to a fresh tempest for a royal family that has lurched from one self-created crisis to another.
‘Unlike previous episodes, this involves one of the family’s most popular members, a commoner-turned-future queen.
‘It also reflects a social media celebrity culture driven in part by the family itself, one that is worlds away from the intrusive paparazzi pictures that used to cause royals, including a younger Kate Middleton, chagrin.’
Another major US media outlet that criticised Kate was the broadcaster CNN, which published an analysis piece saying: ‘CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace.’
‘In editorial photography, photojournalists and editors commonly adjust a photograph’s exposure or colour balance in order to more accurately reflect the scene.
‘Most news organizations, including CNN, regard it as unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image. To do so would alter the reality of the situation the image is intended to document.
Reporters Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Max Foster added: ‘In the past, the family’s amateur photographs have been well received when posted on social media.
‘But on this occasion, this photo was also released to media organizations as a handout and the palace wasn’t transparent about the fact it had been adjusted.
‘That will have damaged the trust between the palace and media organizations – many of which, like CNN, will likely be assessing all royal handouts.
‘The editing storm has undermined the existing relationship and when public interest over any possible cover up escalates, as it has done recently, many news outlets will now have take that speculation more seriously.’
Also today, the Los Angeles Times featured the story towards the bottom of its front page with the headline: ‘Doctored photo is a major royal oops.’
Reporter Nardine Saad wrote that Kate’s ‘admission that the image had been doctored has only heightened controversy and raised serious questions about the way the royal family has handled the princess’ health’.
The newspaper also ran a quote from Mike Ananny, codirector of the Center for Generative AI and Society, who said: ‘The palace clearly messed up. Full stop. You don’t release a manipulated image with the world watching.’
He added that it breaks ‘this myth that royals are showing us genuine trusted images. This historically is a moment of ‘Can we trust images and public institutions?’ being blown up.’
Another newspaper featuring the story on its front page today was the Washington Post, which carried the original picture along with four close-ups of circled areas of contention.
The headline read: ‘Doctored photo of princess triggers media crisis – Celebrities’ aspiration for perfection and journalism’s truth-telling mission clash with its release.’
The report went in on how photographer Paul Clarke had been ‘rowing on the River Thames in the rain’ when he started getting messages from friends.
The article said: ‘Clarke is an expert in the art of editing and retouching photos, and friends wanted his opinion of the image. He quickly noticed some, uh — inconsistencies.’
The New York Post ran a story in its Page Six section today claiming sources close to Prince Harry and Meghan had told the publication: ‘This isn’t a mistake Meghan would ever make.’
And the news also featured in a segment of ABC’s Good Morning America today, with its reporter James Longman saying: ‘The family is now trying to keep calm and carry on.’
He added: ‘This story goes away in one of two ways. Either Kate appears in public or that original photograph is released. Until then speculation will continue.’
Yesterday, Kate said sorry with a statement on social media which read: ‘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.’
Royal sources said the Princess made ‘minor adjustments’ and that Kate and William wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day.
The source added: ‘The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day.’
Kate was later spotted leaving Windsor in a car with William as he was driven to the Commonwealth Day service in London. The princess was not attending the service, but was understood to have a private appointment.
The Palace has faced growing pressure over the debacle with the controversy branded damaging to the public’s trust of the royal family.
Concerns were raised over a missing part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her skirt, with other speculation including the positioning of Kate’s zip.
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’.
William and Kate have an established track record of issuing their own photographs, often taken by Kate rather than William, to mark special occasions including their children’s birthdays.
But the princess’s confession raises questions over whether – or to what extent – the images have been altered in the past.
Sky News said an examination of the photo’s meta data revealed it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday and the picture was taken on a Canon Camera.
Kate underwent surgery at the London Clinic on January 16, but details of her condition have been kept private, and she is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter.