Kate Middleton: Princess of Wales leaves Windsor in car with William for 'private appointment' amid photo-gate

The Princess of Wales, who is now at the centre of a controversy over a 'fake' family picture, has left Windsor in a car driven by the Prince of Wales to attend the Commonwealth Day service in London, Kensington Palace has confirmed. It has been reported that Kate is not attending the service, but is understood to have a private appointment.

The picture which has raised concerns was said to have been taken by Prince William of his three children - Princes George and Louis, and Princess Charlotte - and Kate. It was released to the media as part of Mother's Day celebrations on Sunday, March 10 and came amid widespread speculation over Kate's wellbeing following abdominal surgery in February.

The image showed Kate sat in a chair, flanked by her children - Prince Louis on the left of her and Princess Charlotte on the right. Prince George stood behind his mother in the image with his arms over her shoulders, all flashing big smiles.

However, shortly after the picture was released, online speculation started to grow again over parts of the image which some claimed to be altered or even "AI-generated". Eagle-eyed viewers spotted editing errors on parts of the image including Princess Charlotte's wrist and Prince Louis' fingers, as well as Kate's missing wedding ring on her left hand and the unusual blurriness on her right hand as it gripped Prince Louis' waist.

The situation escalated when major foreign news agencies such as AP, AFP, Reuters and Getty all issued a 'kill order' on the image, requesting that news organisations do not use it in coverage due to concerns over image manipulation. The AP update on Sunday evening read: "Mandatory kill. Due to an editorial issue this photo by the Prince of Wales has been withdrawn... and may no longer by used in any manner. Please immediately remove it from all your online services, stop using it in any other fashion and delete it from your servers."

On Monday, The PA news agency also said it would be withdrawing the image from its picture service. A spokesperson for the UK’s national news agency said: “Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.

“We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”

Kensington Palace has since issued an apology on behalf of the Princess of Wales, who was responsible for editing a family photograph which was shared online and sent to media on Mother’s Day. In a post, personally signed C for Catherine, she said: “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.”

Royal sources said the Princess of Wales made “minor adjustments” and that Kate and the Prince of Wales wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day. “The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.

Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the original unedited photograph of Kate and her children.