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A photograph of Queen Elizabeth II taken by Kate Middleton was "digitally enhanced at source," according to a leading picture agency.
Getty Images, which counts Newsweek among its customers, attached a warning to an official portrait released by Kensington Palace to mark what would have been Queen Elizabeth's 97th birthday in April 2023. The image shows the late monarch with some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The news comes after four international picture agencies, including Getty, "killed" a separate image of Kate with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on March 10, British Mother's Day, over manipulation concerns.
The picture had been hugely anticipated due to a viral social media trend suggesting Kate was "missing"— but when the image arrived there were multiple easily identifiable signs of tampering.
Getty has now added what it describes as an "editor's note" to the 2023 image, which reads: "Image has been digitally enhanced at source."
The original caption said: "Copyright in the photograph is vested in The Prince and Princess of Wales. Publications are asked to credit the photograph to The Princess of Wales."
It added: "In this handout images supplied by Kensington Palace, and taken by the Princess of Wales at Balmoral last summer, Queen Elizabeth II poses with some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren (back row, left to right) Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, (middle row, left to right) Lena Tindall, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Isla Phillips, Prince Louis, and (front row, left to right) Mia Tindall holding Lucas Tindall, and Savannah Phillips at Balmoral Castle in 2022 in Aberdeen, Scotland."
Kate previously acknowledged editing the Mother's Day photograph in a post on X, though only after picture agencies had issued a "kill notice."
She wrote: "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."
In a weekend column, Richard Kay, a former close friend of Princess Diana, wrote in the Daily Mail: "The photograph issue, while small in itself, nevertheless exposed tensions that lie close to the surface in the family, as well as the fragility of an institution that for decades seemed impervious to any external threat.
"But if we are not quite at the 11th hour, we are perilously close. There still may be time for the high tide of public disapproval to recede, but the cost to the royal image and to individual reputations has been high.
"More concerning still, such crises no longer seem the exception, but the rule. A fortnight ago, the sight of a grinning Prince Andrew and his ex-wife leading this now-diminished family into church for the thanksgiving service for the late King Constantine of Greece prompted disbelief.
"'Like the cast of a ghastly pantomime,' was how one of the King's most trusted friends described it to me. 'Thank God for the European royals who added a bit of decorum.'"
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more