How Princess of Wales’s photo added fuel to conspiracy theorists’ fire

Picture was supposed to put to bed rumours about surgery and health in the Royal family, but it set in chain a wild 36 hours for the Firm

The last time the village of Datchet was in the news was when it suffered from terrible floods in the winter of 2014. Since then, it has returned to the quiet anonymity that its residents have always valued.
Their peace may be about to be shattered, though, after the Berkshire village became the unlikely backdrop to the latest twist in the drama surrounding the Princess of Wales.
The Princess, who has not made any public appearances since undergoing surgery on Jan 17, broke cover on Monday and was photographed next to the Prince of Wales in the back seat of a car as it drove down Datchet High Street.
Her presence by her husband’s side was such a surprise that even the two freelance photographers who captured the image had to look twice at their pictures. Kensington Palace aides were also caught off guard on a day of turmoil for the Waleses.
Just over two hours earlier, the Princess had issued an unprecedented public apology, admitting blame after a family photograph was digitally altered to such an extent that it had been withdrawn for failing to meet industry standards.
After weeks of wild conspiracy theories about the Princess’s health and her whereabouts since her withdrawal from the public eye, the picture of her with her three children, released for Mother’s Day, had been designed to put the rumours to rest, once and for all.
Instead, it did the opposite. So much digital tinkering had been done to the picture that it prompted further questions about whether any element of the photograph was genuine, including the Princess’s appearance.
So it was perhaps serendipitous that two experienced photographers had decided to base themselves on Datchet High Street, just a stone’s throw from the Prince and Princess’s family home on the Windsor estate, on Monday.
Knowing that Prince William was due at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey that afternoon they thought they would snap him as he made his way into central London.
“It was about 1.50pm when we saw the convoy coming towards us and we just managed to get a quick picture,” one of the photographers told The Telegraph.
“We had no idea that Kate was even in the car with him until we looked at it. It was pure luck.”
Curiously, the Princess was heading to London for a private appointment but had apparently decided to travel with her husband, leaving her own vehicle to follow behind.
She gazed out of the window of the blue Range Rover as the Prince appeared to read some notes on his phone. At some point they went their separate ways, as the Prince later arrived at the Abbey alone, as had always been planned.
As luck would have it, the photographers standing in Datchet High Street managed to achieve what the Princess herself had been aiming for with her own image – to prove that she was alive and well.
The sighting capped an extraordinary 36 hours.
For days, journalists had been asking Kensington Palace whether it would be releasing a Mother’s Day picture. Aides were unsure how to respond. Would a picture really quash the speculation or rather suggest they were caving in to public pressure?
Often, such images are released to the media a day in advance, under embargo. But not this time.
Confirmation that there would be an image came just 30 minutes before it was published on the Prince and Princess’s social media accounts at 9am on Sunday morning.
Kensington Palace said the image had been taken in Windsor last week by the Prince of Wales.
It is understood to have been taken in a 40-minute window on Friday, after the children came home from school and William was back from an Earthshot engagement at the Oval cricket ground.
Predictably, the release sent social media into meltdown. But among the tens of thousands of messages from delighted wellwishers were many others pointing out various inconsistencies and raising questions about its very authenticity. Kensington Palace said nothing, seemingly hoping they could simply ride out the increasingly wild speculation.
It was just after 7.30pm on Sunday evening when matters took a dramatic turn.
Associated Press, one of the most well-known and respected global news agencies, issued a “kill” notice warning to its customers that it could not guarantee the royal portrait’s authenticity.
“It appears that the source has manipulated the image,” the agency said. “No replacement image will be sent.”
The development was news to Kensington Palace. Tentative concerns raised by one agency earlier in the day had been batted off and the team believed the matter had been put to bed.
The decision to withdraw the picture will not have been taken lightly. AP has transmitted almost 84,000 images over the last month and has killed just 12.
Other picture agencies quickly followed. The photograph was killed by Getty at 8.01pm, Agence France-Presse, at 8.14pm, Reuters at 8.34pm and Shutterstock just after midnight.
Reuters said it had withdrawn the picture “following a post-publication review”, noting that “part of the sleeve of Kate’s daughter’s cardigan did not line up properly, suggesting that the image had been altered”. Still Kensington Palace said nothing.
By Monday morning, the fiasco over the photograph was not only leading newspaper front pages but also the BBC news. Just after 10am the Press Association, the UK’s national news agency, withdrew the image from its service, citing an “absence of clarification” from Kensington Palace about its contents.
Meanwhile, senior aides had the unenviable task of calling Adelaide Cottage to bring the Prince and Princess up to speed.
The Princess, who was all-too aware of the scrutiny she and her children would be under once the picture was released, is said to have been distressed at the accusations and decided to take public responsibility.
At 10.28am, 13-and-a-half hours after the photograph was released, the Princess stepped forward to take the blame with a post on Twitter:
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
The Palace said it had no intention of releasing the original version to restore public confidence. But if aides thought the statement would draw a line under the affair, they would be disappointed.
Media industry insiders argued that it underlined the problems caused when those unfamiliar with industry standards on authenticity insist on controlling their own public image. Most UK news organisations are regulated by the Editors’ Code of Practice, which clearly states that publishers “must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images”.
It also prompted questions about whether – or to what extent – images released by Kensington Palace had been altered in the past. The Princess, patron of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Photographic Society, also faced the prospect that her own credibility as a photographer had been severely dented.
The Prince of Wales, meanwhile, had royal duties to fulfil as he attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
The organisers of the service had chosen resilience and endurance as its themes, unaware of how keenly they would apply to the Royal family itself on this particular day.
With the King and the Princess of Wales both absent for medical reasons, and the furore around the doctored photograph in full sway, it was up to the Queen and the Prince of Wales to show an international audience how the monarchy deals with adversity.
The Queen outranks Prince William, meaning she would have walked in front of him if strict protocol had been followed, but instead they sensibly decided to walk side by side in the procession at Westminster Abbey, each offering support to the other.
Their role, however, was passive. Instead of delegating responsibility for delivering the Commonwealth Day message to his son and heir, the King chose to record the message so it could be played on video screens dotted around the Abbey.
The intention, no doubt, was to show that the King remains very much at his desk despite his cancer treatment, and that as head of the Commonwealth he continues to serve it, in his words, “to the best of my ability”.
It made for a curious atmosphere, though, as His Majesty’s pre-recorded voice echoed around the nave. Robotic TV cameras swivelled and pointed to catch the expressions of the Royal family watching the King on television, as if they were on a regal version of Gogglebox.
His Majesty talked of the Commonwealth nations “working together to build resilience” while the Bible reading, from the Book of James, which was delivered by the High Commissioner of Rwanda, talked of facing trials and of endurance.
Resilience was on display in the congregation, too, as Geri Horner, a supporter of the Prince’s Trust, attended the service despite the ongoing crisis over her husband Christian Horner’s WhatsApp messages to a female employee of his Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team.
Later in the day, Prince William attended a “Launchpad” event to promote a Dragons’ Den-style scheme to get investors together with finalists in his Earthshot Prize environmental initiative, where he made no mention of the row over the picture.
If photographers and television cameras descend on Datchet hoping to capture more images of the Princess, the residents of the Thames-side village may have to demonstrate resilience of their own in the days to come.