The Controversy Over Kate Middleton's Family Photo: Allegations of AI Editing

Apologies and admissions of guilt from Kate Middleton herself were not enough: "Like many amateur photographers," she wrote in an official statement, "I occasionally dabble in editing, and I want to apologize for the confusion caused by the family photo we shared." Theories continue to swirl around the photo of the princess with her three children. English tabloids are abuzz with talk of a communication error, the convalescing Kate's naivety, or a palace plan to show a healthy princess (thwarted by the attention of photo agencies and social media). And now, what seemed like a simple retouch with FaceApp to lighten dark circles and alter the light might actually be the work of artificial intelligence. The Princess's face, in fact, appears to be the same as on the cover of Vogue in 2016. "It is now believed that Kate Middleton’s face in the 'new' photo is actually from her 2016 Vogue cover. Take a look for yourself. pic.twitter.com/Phu8ASbui5" — Mr. Pop (@MrPopOfficial) March 11, 2024 According to a user on X, the social media editor Ruby Naldrett, later echoed by others, the princess's face is the same—only slightly turned with a photo editing program—as the cover of Vogue dedicated to Kate and taken in 2016. A photography experiment (in this case artificial) that was also picked up by the Spanish newspaper Marca. A theory that was immediately debunked by facial recognition expert Eliot Higgins, journalist and founder of Bellingcat. Even artificial intelligence and Photoshop experts have dismissed the bizarre accusations, insisting that the amateur photographer and future queen did a "five-minute job" to try to create the "perfect family photo". But the scandal of the retouched photo and the shocking appearance with William yesterday have fueled already out-of-control conspiracy theories about her health and whereabouts since she underwent major surgery at the end of January. Some of the more ridiculous claims say that Kate uses a body double—or that it's her sister Pippa. Others have insisted that the photo of Kate and her children dates back at least four months or even earlier, in 2023, because of a plant with leaves behind them. The photograph of Kate with her 3 children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, was taken with a Canon camera, retouched with Adobe software twice, on March 8 at 21:54 and on March 9 at 09:39, saved on an Apple Mac, and finally released by Kensington Palace on Sunday, March 10, when Mother's Day was celebrated in Great Britain. For Eric Baradat, director of the photo desk at Agence France-Presse, one of the international agencies that withdrew the image sparking a case that shows no signs of abating, it is "a communication failure" on the part of the Windsors: "It was important for us," he emphasized, "to clarify that the photograph had been manipulated. The princess's health condition is a matter of interest, and it was our duty to highlight the issues with the photo released by the royals."