Kate Middleton image: Princess of Wales breaks silence with apology over 'edited' Mother's Day photograph

The Princess of Wales has broken her silence over her highly-publicised photo-editing controversy, with an apology posted to social media.

In a post on the @KensingtonRoyal page on X (formerly Twitter), Kate admitted to editing the photograph, in which eagle-eyed royal watchers spotted various photoshop and editing errors. The statement, with was signed 'C' for Catherine, read: “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.”

Various news agencies across the world, including the UK-based PA, all pulled the image from their services after being made aware of the "manipulation" of the image. The image showed the Princess of Wales surrounded by her children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, but numerous errors were pointed out. This included editing errors on Princess Charlotte's wrist as well as Prince Louis's jumper pattern, and Kate's own hands.

Go beyond just reading the story - sign up for the National World newsletter It helped to fuel social media speculation over Kate's whereabouts following her abdominal surgery in January. Conspiracy theories have spread in recent weeks over the royal princess's, with the Mother's Day photograph reigniting these theories.

A Royal source told PA that that the family had spent Mother's Day together, with the royal couple wanting to offer up an informal picture of the family to celebrate Mother's Day. They added that "minor adjustments" had been made by the Princess of Wales.