Something is rotten on the grounds of Windsor.
As you no doubt know by now, the internet exploded Sunday with clues that a (British) Mother’s Day photo of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her three children – with photo credit ascribed to Prince William – had been manipulated. Things went from speculative to sanctioned seriousness when photo agencies issued a kill notice, telling news outlets not to use the image.
The photo was meant to quell speculation about the former Kate Middleton, who has not been seen (other than in a grainy TMZ photo) since Christmas Day, and in mid-January underwent what Kensington Palace said was planned abdominal surgery for an unspecified issue (but not cancer). Instead, the sloppy attempt at proof-of-life sent the rumour mill into hyper-speed.
Once you zoom in, the problems are apparent, even for the not-Photoshop-fluent among us. They include inconsistencies with Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and Kate’s zipper.
Oops, the Princess clarified the next day. I do like to play around with my photo editing software, Catherine (“C”) apologized over social media.
Are we really to believe that Prince William takes official Royal Family photos now? And Princess Kate, recovering from surgery no less, is in charge of photoshopping them to perfection? Whoever wrote that Monday post was going for a “royals, they’re just like us” vibe. But it only upped the speculation.
Then, on Monday, a grainy photo of the royal couple in the back seat of a car was published: William, on his way to an appearance, was to drop off Kate at an appointment. (One person posted that they had seen clearer photos of UFOs and Bigfoot.)
So, they’re sharing rides now?
Above and beyond the photo-doctoring question is the other big one: Why was the Princess not wearing her wedding and engagement rings in this officially released photo?
Even those of us who normally raise a judgmental eyebrow at conspiracy theories have been eagerly following along. (One article about it, in The Atlantic, was headlined “QAnon for Wine Moms.”) Is Kate in a coma? Recovering from cosmetic surgery gone wrong? A butt lift? (They’re all the rage.) Has she absconded to stay with family elsewhere, perhaps after some terrible marital fight? More than one person has pointed to Prince Harry’s recounting in his memoir Spare of big brother Willy grabbing him by the collar and knocking him to the ground.
The trouble in royal marriage paradise theory does seem to be gathering steam. Not wearing her rings in the photo was a choice, especially with all the speculation. Was this a trial balloon meant to prep the public for a terrible announcement? Clearly, this is a divorce negotiation, someone on the internet said. And why was Catherine issuing this statement of apology, rather than William? She’s being thrown under the bus, the internet determined elsewhere.
The conspiracy theories compared the clothing worn in the doctored photo to sweaters, shoes and even tights worn by Kate and Princess Charlotte at a public event late last year. (As if people, even princesses, don’t wear the same item twice.) And Kate’s (“Kate’s”) face in the photo is very similar to an image of her from a 2016 Vogue magazine cover.
The photo, the palace said, had been taken the previous week – early March in Windsor. Are the trees that lush and leafy at this time of year? The internet needed to know.
It’s all great fun, right? Well, other than the fact that something may actually be very wrong with the Princess. Or her marriage.
There are wider implications, too. As Royal Family biographer Sally Bedell Smith told People magazine: “Queen Elizabeth used to say ‘I need to be seen to be believed.’ ” Now we can’t even believe what we see. This photo could be the poster child for the disinformation age, and a portent of things to come in the era of artificial intelligence.
Whatever has happened to Kate – and maybe it is just abdominal surgery with a long recovery period – this opaque situation offers a peek into the information chaos ahead. If the Royal Household can’t be trusted, who can? (Okay, maybe that’s not the best example.) But there are photos of much more serious events that have been posted with inaccurate contexts – photos from the war in Syria that purport to be from Gaza, for instance, even though there are many photographs that are actually from Gaza that show how horrific the situation is. Posting inaccurate images only distracts from this very real tragedy.
Photographs aren’t the only things being manipulated. We all are. And it’s getting easier to do this, at a time when trust in the media is already at a scary low. We are all going to have to be vigilant.
Marsha Lederman