What a rollercoaster of emotions this past weekend! I was in Tesco on Sunday – surrounded by people buying last-minute tulips for Mother’s Day – when I checked my phone.
Stopped. Looked again and then there were joyous, ‘Yays!’ And, ‘Look, she’s fine!’ And, ‘Oh thank God.’
I rushed home to study the photo of Kate and her children, released to show the world that she is doing well and on the mend. But then…Hmm.
I went outside to stare at trees. Blossom, yes, but no leaves. Another look at the snap. Her expression was a bit off. A bit too bland and a bit too happy.
I would have expected, after a couple of months off and reams of speculation, a half-smile, something slightly wry.
And why was Louis in a Christmas jumper? Didn’t the floor seem rather shabby?
Twitter (now X) exploded but I refuse to call the people who were posting their concerns ‘trolls’.
We are not the villains here. We are concerned citizens, desperate for crumbs of comfort about our favourite royal, our top person.
Enlarging the photo on our phone screens, we even beat the official news agencies in spotting the anomalies in that shot.
Ordinary people, worried and wondering why, if the photo has indeed been doctored, William couldn’t just take a bloody normal family snap on his phone and post it!
We all do it, many times a day. We didn’t want or expect a perfectly posed shot, just a little something to stop us worrying. And we had been worrying ever since that woman was papped in a car, driven by Kate’s mother, last week? I for one got no sleep at all.
Twenty-five years ago, having just been appointed editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine, I was sat in a photographer’s studio putting my first cover to bed. At the next computer someone was working on a rival cover. I watched with amazement as a Hollywood star’s nose was removed, and a better, more streamlined one, set in its place. Wow!
That was the moment I realised people could be hoodwinked using wizardry – and possibly with potentially catastrophic consequences. Even before the age of rampant social media, I could see the flashing warning signs of what lay ahead.
I realised then that young women will starve themselves and get cosmetic surgery on the fragile premise of a lie, wanting to attain a perfection portrayed on a magazine cover that does not exist in nature.
Remember the Kate Winslet furore over a GQ cover, where her legs were made longer and slimmer digitally?
As an editor, I called for kite marks of authenticity to be placed on photos, for any retouching to be banned. But of course I was ignored. And now look where we are. A global scandal over a royal picture which leading photographic agencies were so concerned about that they felt they had to pull it.
Given what is possible with AI and digital trickery today, isn’t it even more important for the Royal Family and its minions to be authentic and transparent in all their dealings with the public and Press, given we all pay for their palaces and their privacy?
It is such a blunder, so catastrophic for our faith in the monarchy and I believe that, yet again, Kate has been badly let down by the Palace media operation and advisers.
That very first statement, when she was admitted to the London Clinic, seemed genuine and heartfelt. The princess realised the attention and speculation her disappearing from public view would cause, and deliberately set our minds at rest, in a kind and thoughtful way: ‘The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate…’ And, ‘She wishes to apologise…’
Since then nothing. No updates beyond the bland and meaningless, allowing the distasteful speculation about her health and the state of her marriage to proliferate on social media and in the foreign press – New York Times and American Vogue – to ponder.
Why could they not have simply released a photo for Mother’s Day of Kate from the Coronation, say, with a small note from her? That would have been fine. We don’t expect her to put on make-up during her hiatus. Now we are thinking: did she even write the message that accompanied the controversial snap?
And more. Why were there as many as 16 anomalies on the photo? Was the photo an old Christmas one, simply repurposed? The children certainly look as hysterical and excited as they would have done on Christmas Day.
Why wasn’t an accredited photographer with decades of professional standing sent in to do the shot? Was she too ill for that?
The Palace clearly can no longer be trusted, given what transpired on Monday morning when, finally, an official tweet from Kensington Palace arrived.
‘Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I want to express my apologies for any confusion…’ It is signed with a ‘C’.
What??!! But Kate is not an ‘amateur’, she is an experienced photographer (She is, after all, patron of the Royal Photographic Society). And it was William who took it! She is a perfectionist and would never do a bad job with anything!
Now, I don’t want to accuse KP of lying. But I think the Palace, not the Princess, treats the general public with disdain. The Palace thinks we are all stupid, and will never question anything the Waleses say.
I am certain that Kate, as a young, media savvy, empathetic person, who never puts a foot wrong, is never caught with the wrong expression, or wearing something that doesn’t quite fit or is creased, would not make a mistake like this.
I believe she had no hand in this photo, or any mistakes made after.
What we do know is that this debacle is fuelling even more speculation – even that she is refusing to co-operate with the Palace.
Whatever is going on, I can only imagine Kate’s distress, her shock, her anger. And whoever is responsible needs to be sacked. Today.