Something really hilarious is happening this week. Kensington Palace would actually prefer that people talk about whether or not that’s really the Princess of Wales in TMZ’s video and whether or not Wiglet Christ Superstar will be resurrected in time for Easter. Like, the palace would much rather center all of the conversations on Kate and her appearance. They don’t want to talk about the fact that the Windsors now have zero international credibility and that Agence France-Presse now considers the Windsors’ propaganda to be on the same level as Iran and North Korea. It’s started creeping into royal coverage though, random quotes about how of course the palace realizes that they can’t issue any more photos “taken by Kate,” and that there’s a ticking time bomb if Reuters, Getty, AFP and AP start examining all of the palace-issued photos. The Sunday Times piece in which an “adviser” to William and Kate referred to the media agencies as “hypocritical” for killing the manipulated Mother’s Day image hasn’t helped either.
Right now, everything is centered on the photo, allegedly taken by Kate in the summer of 2022, of Queen Elizabeth II and all of her white great-grandchildren. It was clearly manipulated and edited. KP released it months after QEII’s passing, and it was done as a sort of memorial, not as a proof of life or anything. It was also released as a snub to the Sussexes, because their children were not included. Well, first the Guardian picked it apart, and then Getty added an editor’s note to their archived copy, a note which called the photo manipulated and edited at the source. Now Reuters is bandwagoning:
A second royal photograph issued to the media by Kensington Palace, the office of Prince William and his wife Kate, was digitally altered in eight places, Reuters said on Tuesday after an analysis of the picture by the news organisation’s photo editors.
The picture, released in April last year to mark what would have been the 97th birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth, showed the former monarch surrounded by some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. It had been taken by Kate, 42, at the Scottish royal residence Balmoral Castle the previous summer, Kensington Palace said at the time.
Earlier on Tuesday, Getty Images flagged to its clients that the Balmoral picture had been “digitally enhanced at source,” without giving further details. “Getty Images is undertaking a review of handout images and in accordance with its editorial policy is placing an editor’s note on images where the source has suggested they could be digitally enhanced,” a spokesperson said.
While Getty, Reuters and other news organisations did not at the time spot any issues with the handout, the examination of the photograph by Reuters photo editors has found that there were eight places where the picture had been clearly altered by digital cloning. Reuters could not immediately establish why the alterations were made. Digital cloning involves copying pixels to either move or mask objects or areas in a photo.
Kensington Palace has declined to comment on the photograph. A Reuters spokesperson said: “Reuters is updating its procedures related to vetting images from Kensington Palace after confirming a second altered photograph. Consistent with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, Reuters requires that photos meet its editorial standards for image quality, accuracy and reliability.”
It’s fascinating to watch this as a slow drip from the agencies. I realize that Reuters is doing their own in-house investigation and analysis and not just taking Getty’s word or the Guardian’s word for the fact that this one photo has been manipulated, but I have to wonder why all of these agencies aren’t doing what CNN did: announce a review of ALL palace-issued photos. By focusing on each individual photo, agencies like Getty and Reuters are effectively extending the story by weeks/months. Like, just going through my own archives of palace-issued photos, I can see clear issues with photos going back years. It’s funnier the way Getty and Reuters are doing it though – a piecemeal approach to thoroughly embarrass Kensington Palace, especially after William and Kate’s advisor called the agencies hypocritical. Getty and Reuters took that as a challenge.
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace.
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