The Princess of Wales has apologised publicly "for any confusion" caused by her Mother鈥檚 Day photo, which had raised debate about its authenticity and whether it had been digitally altered or created using AI.
In a statement posted on Kensington Palace鈥檚 social media, Catherine said "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing."
The statement was released after a Mother's Day photo, posted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, was pulled by major news agencies such as Reuters and Associated Press (AP), who found that the image had been digitally altered.
All of this comes amidst vast social media speculation about Kate Middleton's whereabouts, which has been going on since her operation in January of this year.
But what's been done to the photo? How can you tell it's been edited? And what can we learn from it?
How can you spot an altered image?
Due to the speculation surrounding Kate's well-being online this year, any new information on her whereabouts was always going to be thoroughly examined and scrutinised.
Many were quick to point out signs of visible alterations to the picture, with Princess Charlotte's hand especially questioned due to blurring around her sleeve.
It was this detail that AP referenced in their removal notice, as reason to believe the image had been altered.
While AP does allow some alterations to images, such as cropping and colour adjustments, in this case they were beyond the remit of what the agency allows.
People on social media also questioned other details in the photo, such as the blurring of Kate's right hand and issues involving reflections in the windows. Although none of these details were explicitly mentioned by AP or the other news agencies.
Why has this gone viral?
Kate Middleton hadn't been officially seen publicly since Christmas Day 2023, leading to an increasing number of people (including some journalists!) beginning to wonder about her whereabouts - with 'Where is Kate Middleton?' becoming a hot topic across social media.
Far from cooling the online conversation, the photo merely fanned the flames - as users on TikTok, X and other social platforms began to speculate as to why Kensington Palace would post a digitally altered photo, only furthering the spread of any Kate-based conspiracy theories.
The speculation around the edited picture took off, as the sharing of a manipulated image by the royals was unprecedented.
News agencies began to pull down the picture.
The online speculation and news attention lead to a public apology from Kate the next day.
Was the Kate Middleton image made with AI?
Certain details in the image have also prompted speculation that it may have been made using AI technology.
AI images often have an overly crisp, airbrushed, aesthetic and are often given away by small mistakes, particularly around areas like people's hands - which some have said is true of Kate's Mother's Day post.
However, statements by AP and The Princess of Wales both suggest that any issues with the photo are a result of manipulation while editing, as opposed to it being a fully AI generated image.
To see if you can spot the difference between real photos and picture's generated by AI, check out our monthly AI or Real quiz.
What can we learn from this?
Photo editing is commonplace now, especially on social media where many influencers regularly post and share edited images. With technology evolving and developing at such rapid speed, and with editing tools available on our phones and at our finger tips, it鈥檚 becoming more difficult to tell the real from the fake.
Analysis of the image's metadata by 大象传媒 Verify shows the picture was saved twice on photo editing software, but some basic information about the image remains unknown - such as when exactly it was taken and what was changed.
Kensington Palace have said they won't be publishing the original image so we can't be certain what's changed and been digitally manipulated.
It's important to use reputable, trustworthy, news outlets and sources to get the latest information and any updates on stories to make sure what you鈥檙e reading or watching is correct.
Not sure if the news you鈥檙e seeing on social media is true or false? Can you always tell if the things you see online are real or fake? Learn how to get the other side of the story with our quizzes, videos and explainers.
