Princess Kate apologizes for apparent photoshop fail as news agencies drop her family picture

London — Catherine, The Princess of Wales, issued an apology on social media Monday for editing a photo of her family that was released to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. The photo, released by Kensington Palace on Sunday, has been taken down by a handful of major global news photo agencies over manipulations of the image.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Kate said in a message shared on a Kensington Palace social media account on Monday. “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 photograph in question, which shows Kate sitting with her three children, was the first image released of the princess since she underwent abdominal surgery about two months ago. Credit for the photo was given to Kate’s husband William, The Prince of Wales.

A Kensington Palace source said Monday that Kate, William, 10-year-old George, 8-year-old Charlotte and 5-year-old Louis had spent Mother’s Day together and wanted to share an informal photo. The picture was taken by William, the source said, but Kate had made minor adjustments to it. The source said the family had a wonderful day.

Soon after the image was published by Kensington Palace, international photo agencies including The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP removed it from distribution to news organizations over apparent violations of their standards. 

The AP said it had removed the image “because at closer inspection, it appeared 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.”

Online commentators noted blurring around one of Charlotte’s sleeves, while others pointed out what seemed to be photo edits around the children’s hair and hands.

On Monday, Britain’s Press Association news agency, which is often the first to receive and report royal news and media, said it too was dropping the image after receiving no response to its request for clarification from Kensington Palace. 

“In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service,” PA said.

Haley Ott

Haley Ott is the CBS News Digital international reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau. Haley joined CBS News in 2018, prior to which she worked for outlets including Al Jazeera, Monocle, and Vice News.