Kate Middleton – manipulated Mother’s Day picture

It took a few hours before photography experts and social media users began analyzing the picture, finding several errors and examples of bad editing.

Several news agencies, including the Associated Press and Getty, sent a “kill notice” (an advisory notice to remove or not use a specific photo).

Another news agency that used a “kill notice” was the well-renowned Agence France-Presse (AFP). Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Media Show, Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director, said that Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted source.

“No, absolutely not. Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source the bar is raised … We sent out notes to all our teams at the moment to be absolutely super more vigilant about the content coming across our desk — even from what we would call trusted sources,” he said, as reported by Deadline.

Chetwynd continued by revealing that several news agencies asked Kensington Palace Sunday if they could provide the original picture. However, according to him, the agencies did not receive a reply, and the image was pulled.

Moreover, Chetwynd said kill notices are usually reserved for sources such as North Korea.

“To kill something on the basis of manipulation [is rare. We do it] once a year maybe, I hope less. The previous kills we’ve had have been from the North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency,” Chetwynd added.

It’s been over a week since Kate published the photo on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account. Since – besides news agencies releasing a “kill notice,” – Instagram has decided to add an ‘altered photo’ notice to Kate Middleton’s edited Mother’s Day photo.

Under the Instagram post, a warning reads: “Altered photo/video. The same altered photo was reviewed by independent fact-checkers in another post.”

Prince William’s alleged ‘affair’ with Rose Hanbury

As the manipulated picture was not only pulled from news agencies’ websites but also because news agency AFP considered Kensington Palace no longer a trusted source, fans on social media continue to speculate about Kate Middleton and her status.

The manipulated picture Kate posted on Mother’s Day contained several editing mistakes. However, the fact that she didn’t wear her wedding ring left many worried about Prince William and Kate Middleton’s marriage, which could change the royal family’s future forever.

Not least because of the rumors that started five years ago.