British royal family credibility crisis deepens over manipulation of second image

The indecisiveness — some have called it clumsiness — with which the British royal house is managing the public absence of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, or the cancer diagnosis received by King Charles III, has aggravated a credibility crisis that has started to widen to previous media releases by the Windsor family. The global photo agency Getty has pulled another snapshot once supplied by Buckingham Palace, stating that it was “digitally enhanced at the source.”

The image was taken at Balmoral Palace, where the late Elizabeth II used to spend many of her summers, in August 2022. However, the British royal communications team did not release it until April 21 last year, to commemorate what would have been the 97th birthday of the monarch, who died on September 8, 2022, a month after the photo was taken. It shows the queen in the center of a Chester sofa, surrounded by 10 of her great-grandchildren.

The agency points out traces of editing — advanced on Sunday by The Observer newspaper — such as the lack of continuity of one of the lines of the tartan skirt worn by Elizabeth II, or strange shadows behind the face of Prince Louis and the neck of his brother George.

“Getty Images has reviewed the image in question and placed an editor’s note on it, stating that the image has been digitally enhanced at source,” the agency said in a statement.

The new manipulated photograph has emerged as Kensington Palace attempts to put to rest speculation surrounding the whereabouts and state of health of the Princess of Wales. The Sun published a video earlier this week allegedly showing Middleton and her husband, Prince William, recorded with an iPhone 12 Pro by a member of the public, shortly after midday on Saturday. The audiovisual document has been received by most of the British press as definitive proof to bring an end to a torrent of conspiracy theories that have flooded social networks. It shows a couple, presumably the Prince and Princess of Wales, leaving a farm store in Windsor, just over a mile from their residence at Adelaide Cottage.

A return to normality

On Tuesday, William attended an event in support of the homeless in the city of Sheffield, where he was photographed talking with volunteers and people who had managed to get their lives back on track after spending tough years on the streets. The event served to paint an image of daily normality for the prince, and to launch a message about the Princess of Wales and her future return to public duties. “That’s my wife’s area, she should be the one sitting here,” William responded when asked about the consequences of situations of extreme vulnerability on children.

The team at Kensington Palace — the official residence and name given to the office handling the affairs of the Prince and Princess of Wales — is already preparing, as some U.K. media have advanced, the public event that will serve to bring the princess back to the forefront; in principle, the date of April 17, after the Easter school vacations, remains the objective.

William’s new private secretary, former diplomat Ian Patrick, and Kate Middleton’s private secretary, Lieutenant Colonel Tom White, are working hand in hand to prepare an impeccable staging as they seek to definitively turn the page on a crisis of communication and credibility that has once again shaken the British royal house.

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