THE british press appeared more lenient today towards her princess katebut the retouched photofor which she took responsibility herself, is equivalent to a disaster in communication terms, which also raises suspicions about the photos published by the future royal couple.

The publication on Sunday of a photo of the Princess of Wales, smiling and surrounded by her children for Mother’s Day, was supposed to put an end to rumors and scenarios centered on her absence from public life for almost 2 months after a major abdominal surgery.

But the discovery of a series of tampering with the snapshot, the concerted withdrawal of it by five of the major news outlets that had published it, and the “colorless” excuses from Kate, who claimed responsibility saying she was “experimenting with editing”, they had the complete opposite effect.

This Kensington Palace business is one “PR disaster”, writes the Daily Mail on its front page today.

At the same time, the British press seems to be showing sympathy towards Kate and William, the glamorous couple of the monarchy. “Leave them alone,” writes tabloid The Sun.

However, confidence in the information being leaked by Kensington Palace appears to have already been eroded.

“Under the current circumstances, any editing of a photo, even the smallest and without the intention to mislead, can raise suspicion,” reckons Chris Morris, director of the verification website Full Fact. “Conspiracy theories emerge when there is an information gap, so if you want to be believed, you have to be transparent.”

However, the editing of royal portraits is nothing new: last century, the official photographer of the House of Windsor Cecil Beaton had a habit of retouching photos to achieve the perfect shot, royal biographer Hugo Vickers reminds the Telegraph newspaper.

More recently, the 2023 Christmas portrait of the Welsh family or a photo of Queen Elizabeth and her husband Philip in 2020 presented some contradictions, a missing toe, an extra leg, a hand that was strangely glowing, without the public noticing moved.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now a photo) of what they’re sharing. Bridging the gap at this stage seems almost impossible,” commented Omid Scobie, a royal biographer close to Harry and Meghan, who have estranged themselves from the royal family.

Doubts and suspicions

Kate is used to posting “amateur” photos, especially of her children.

But, “in an age of false information (…) who can believe that even the royal family publishes fake photos,” asks journalist Hannah Furness in the Telegraph newspaper.

The events will cast doubt on the princess’s own recovery after her operation, the causes of which were never revealed. How much more so when Kensington Palace refuses to publish the original photo.

As Peter Hunt, a former BBC correspondent, notes, “the public will now question whether they can be trusted the next time they publish information about the state of health” of members of the royal family, especially at a time when King Charles is suffering from cancer .

A new photo taken by two royal photographers yesterday afternoon shows the princess in a car, alongside Prince William. Immediately netizens reported an edited photo.

The episode featuring Kate’s “teased” photo follows a week of confusion, during which Prince William was absent from an official engagement for mysterious “personal reasons” and the announcement of Kate’s participation in a military parade in June was withdrawn from the official program a few hours after its publication.

Due to the information gap, some netizens were quick to comment that the princess’s face was copied from a Vogue cover, or even that her sweater is not sold in the color she is wearing in the photo.