Kate Middleton Has a Major Dilemma

The Princess of Wales and Kensington Palace face a "dilemma" over Prince Louis' upcoming birthday and whether they release a portrait taken by his mother to mark the occasion after her recent photoshop scandal, a British news show has heard.

Kate was forced to issue a public apology on March 11, after traces of image manipulation were identified in a photo of the royal and her three children released through Kensington Palace to celebrate Mother's Day.

In a rare personally authored post, Kate wrote on social media: "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."

Controversy surrounding the image was heightened as it also marked the princess' first official photo since she stepped out of the public eye to undergo abdominal surgery in January. This led to a spike in conspiracy theories about her health, personal life and whereabouts.

In addition, "kill" notices were issued by photo agencies over violated guidelines preventing further distribution of the image and the scandal has also damaged the reputational standing of Kensington Palace. A director of one of the world's largest news agencies told the BBC that the palace was no longer considered a "trusted source" as a result.

The scandal now leaves Kate with a major dilemma over how the palace takes and distributes photos of the Wales family, Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston, told Sky News on Tuesday.

The princess is a passionate amateur photographer and since the births of her three children (Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis), has released a number of self-shot photos of them to mark major milestones. In the past, this has not only been praised as a way of connecting with the public, but also has been credited with being a way that Kate and Prince William can control their children's media exposure and public image.

Prince Louis will celebrate his sixth birthday on April 23, presenting the first occasion where a portrait taken by Kate would have traditionally been released. However, Royston suggests, after the recent criticism of her photography efforts, she could choose to have a professional photographer handle the responsibility.

"That's a big dilemma for them, because what do they do?" he told Sky News anchor Kay Burley.

"Does Kate do what she usually does? Do they even release a picture taken by Kate, or does that just risk, you know, people claiming that it's been photoshopped when it hasn't?"

"I suspect that actually they should just do it and take whatever comes," he suggested. "Because it's a really wonderful thing that Kate's been doing in recent years, where she photographs her own children and puts the pictures out, and it will be an opportunity to try to restore trust."

However, he noted that this will likely attract some negative attention following the photo editing scandal.

"It is of course inevitable that the conspiracy theorists will be back on claiming that they've seen this flaw or that flaw in the picture," he said. "But I think honestly it would be better to just restore that level of normality and restore that relationship that Kate has with her fans and also with her children."

Newsweek approached Kensington Palace via email for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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