Is she getting a divorce? Is he recovering from cosmetic surgery? Or even, is she alive? The photo that aspired to reassure British citizens about the state of Princess Kate’s health backfired, fueling the wildest speculations.

The apology of the Princess of Wales, who on Monday took responsibility for a “teasing” photo she posted on the occasion of Mother’s Day in Britain on Sunday, has fueled rumors about her person.
In a short message posted on social media, Kate Middleton said she tried to edit the photo and was responsible for the many retouches, which led to the snap being pulled by five of the biggest agencies, including Agence France-Presse, which they published.

The said fiasco has allowed a new deluge of theories about the wife of the heir to the British throne, which are gathered online under the title “Katespiracy”, meaning Kate and “conspiracy” after “Photogape”.

Those rumours, fueled by the absence of the princess who has not made any public appearances since Christmas and underwent abdominal surgery in January, had started before the picture was published.

The fake photo that triggered the crisis

To some, Kate is recovering from an eating disorder or recovering from plastic surgery. For others, her absence is a sign that her marriage to Prince William is falling apart. Others, in the end, question whether she is even alive.

The release of the photo by Kensington Palace was supposed to quell the rumors and reassure. But social media users soon revealed inconsistencies, such as the misalignment of the zipper on Kate’s jacket. The fact that the princess admitted to a forgery, but did not publish the original photo, nor explain the reasons for this publication, only served to strengthen the doubts of netizens.

The… bush

“The moral of the story of an edited royal photo is simple: everything (must) be told,” wrote Simon Jenkins, a columnist for the Guardian. “At this stage, privacy is not working. It feeds rumours, gossip and products of imagination.’

Due to the lack of transparency in the transmission of information on the Kate issue, many netizens are engaged in a game of “guess who, guess what”, wondering what the palace could be hiding. “Every family hides a secret,” one reads on a photo circulating on X promoting a fake Netflix documentary titled: “The Royal Conspiracy: The Disappearance of Kate Middleton.” On the platform, many users are expressing doubts that the princess is behind the editing of this photo.

To unravel the mystery of the photo, some go so far as to ask gardeners to find out if the…bush behind Kate could have so many leaves at this time of year.

Some other observers suggest, with a touch of humor, that the princess may have abandoned her family to take intensive Photoshop courses.
In this climate, the calls of the defenders of the monarchy to respect the privacy of the princess fall on deaf ears.

This flurry of posts about Kate has managed to attract the attention of sections of the population who are not usually interested in royal gossip, and it’s all reminiscent of the Streisand effect, observers point out. This media phenomenon consists in the over-broadcasting of information that a person was initially trying to hide.

A new picture taken by royal photographers on Monday afternoon showing Kate in a car alongside Prince William was immediately criticized as doctored on social media.
The princess’ confession about the “teased” photo comes amid growing concerns about fake photos, particularly due to recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (IA). “Citizens today have a generalized sense of unhealthy confusion, suspicion and distrust,” writes author Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic.

“As this royal photo fiasco proves, the age of deepfakes (ie digitally falsified photos, audio or video) doesn’t need to be powered by genetic artificial intelligence, a hasty Photoshop will suffice.”