OVER the years royal fans have been treated to a heartwarming photograph of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis for milestone events like birthdays.
However, following the Princess of Wales’ Mother’s Day photo being pulled due to editing fears, the royal couple made a major change for Louis’ birthday – and could do the same for Charlotte, according to an expert.
Instead of sharing Prince Louis’ adorable birthday picture with photo agencies as he turned six on Tuesday, Kate posted it solely on Instagram.
And this could also be the case for when Princess Charlotte turns nine next Thursday.
Ingrid Seward, Editor in Chief of Majesty magazine, told Fabulous: “When the Princess of Wales was attacked for editing her Mother’s Day family photograph, it hurt her deeply.
“She had been taking photographs of her children since their birth.
“After several photo agencies decided to drop her photoshopped Mother’s Day photograph, her hurt was such that together she and William decided if they were going to let the world see pictures of their children it would be on their terms.
“Now when they release a photograph it will be through their Kensington Palace offices, that way they have control.
“It is a small but necessary step forward towards protecting their family in the increasingly hostile world of social media and beyond.”
Ingrid, who is author of My Mother & I, added that the couple have so “much public support” and Kate is an “acknowledged amateur portrait photographer”.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be grateful for the birthday messages they have received for Louis.
The cute snap, which is understood to be unedited, was taken by Kate at Windsor in the last few days to mark Louis’ special day.
Posting on Twitter and Instagram, William and Kate said: “Happy 6th Birthday, Prince Louis!
“Thank you for all the kind wishes today.”
It’s thought to be an unprecedented time for the Wales family as Princess Kate continues her cancer recovery.
A photo of Kate with children Charlotte, George and Louis was shared on Mother’s Day, but the princess later released a statement regarding the snap.
Kate has released a statement following criticism after a photo of her and her children was issued on Mother’s Day.
Many people noticed that some parts of the image looked photoshopped, which led to news agencies ordering a “kill notice” on the snap.
News agencies ordered a “kill notice” on the picture late Sunday night.
The removal orders were sent after “manipulation” on the image was discovered.
AP’s order said the reason for killing the story was: “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.”
The order then directs those who have used the photo to remove it from all platforms, including social.
Agence France-Press ordered the “mandatory kill” due to an “editorial issue” and directed that the image may no longer be used.
Reuters said the photo “has been withdrawn following a post publication review.”
Getty Images said: “For editorial reasons, please remove the following image(s) from your system and do not use in any manner.”
Getty said its picture desk “identified a problematic image” provided by the palace and removed it from its site “in accordance with our editorial policy.”
PA said: “Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.
“We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace.
“In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”
Each of the news agencies have their own editorial guidelines which govern how they treat images.
AP says that pictures “must always tell the truth” and that it does not alter or manipulate the content of a photograph in any way.
Its guidelines say: “The content of a photograph must not be altered in PhotoShop or by any other means. No element should be digitally added to or subtracted from any photograph.”
However, AP says minor adjustments are allowed, they include cropping, colour adjustments, and light adjustments.
The mum-of-three then shared a statement where she explained that she had experimented with editing.
She wrote: “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.
“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
When the Princess of Wales was attacked for editing her Mother’s Day family photograph, it hurt her deeply
Ingrid Seward
Among the issues that fans claimed to have spotted in the image were Kate’s hand being fuzzy as well as her zip being misaligned and more.
The five large news agencies – PA, AP, Getty Images, Reuters, and, AFP – all withdrew the pic due to fears it had been “edited at source”.
A spokesperson for the UK’s national news agency said: “Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.
“We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.”
Kensington Palace has been contacted for comment.
