(Washington) Is she getting divorced? To recover from cosmetic surgery? Or is she even alive? The photo, which was intended to reassure the public about Princess Kate’s state of health, had the opposite effect, fueling the wildest speculations.
The apology from the Princess of Wales, who on Monday took responsibility for an “edited” photo published on the occasion of British Mother’s Day on Sunday, caused rumors about her to flare up.
In a brief message published on social networks, Kate Middleton said she had tried her hand at “editing” and was at the origin of the multiple retouching which led to the removal of her portrait, all smiles and surrounded by her three children , by five of the largest press agencies, including AFP, which published it.
This fiasco gave rise to a new flood of theories about the wife of the heir to the British crown, aggregated online under the name “Katespiracy”, for Kate and “conspiracy”.
These rumors, fueled by the absence of the princess who has not been seen in public since Christmas and underwent abdominal surgery in January, had started well before the publication of the photo.
For some, Kate is recovering from an eating disorder or recovering from cosmetic surgery. For others, her absence is a sign that her marriage to Prince William is on the rocks. Others, finally, wonder if she is still alive.
The publication of the photo by Kensington Palace was supposed to calm the rumors and reassure. But social media users quickly pointed out inconsistencies, such as the misalignment of the zipper on Kate’s jacket.
The fact that the princess recognized manipulation, without publishing the original photo, nor explaining the reasons for this edition, only reinforced the doubts of Internet users.
PHOTO FROM X @KENSINGTONROYAL
Social media users quickly noted inconsistencies in a photo published on the occasion of British Mother’s Day.
Shrub
“The moral of the story of an edited royal photo is simple: [il faut] tell it all,” argues Simon Jenkins, columnist at Guardian. “At this point, privacy doesn’t work. It fuels rumors, gossip and inventions.”
Due to the lack of transparent information about Kate, many internet users are playing a guessing game, wondering what the palace could be hiding.
“Every family hides a secret,” reads an image that circulated on X, promoting a Netflix mockumentary titled “The Royal Plot: The Disappearance of Kate Middleton.”
On the platform, many users express their doubts about the fact that the princess is at the origin of the edition of this photograph.
To unravel the mystery of the cliché, some have gone so far as to ask horticulturists to find out if the last visible shrub Kate could be as leafy at this time of year, while others point out the absence of visible alliance at his finger.
Some observers have suggested, with a touch of humor, that the princess was able to abandon her family to take an intensive course in Photoshop, image editing software.
Calls from defenders of the monarchy to leave the princess alone and respect her private life have fallen on deaf ears.
This explosion of publications about Kate succeeds in capturing the attention of sections of the population who usually stay away from royal gossip, and is reminiscent of the Streisand effect, observers point out. This media effect consists of the overdissemination of information that a person originally sought to hide.
A new snapshot taken by royal photographers on Monday afternoon shows Kate in a car alongside Prince William and was immediately denounced as manipulated on social media.
Transparency
The princess’s admission about this manipulated photo also comes in a context of strong concerns about false images, particularly due to recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI).
“People today have a widespread feeling of unhealthy confusion, suspicion and distrust,” notes writer Charlie Warzel in the newspaper The Atlantic.
“As the royal photo fiasco shows, the era of deepfakes [images, audios ou vidéos manipulés numériquement] doesn’t need to be powered by generative AI, hasty Photoshop is enough.”
The controversy is pushing public opinion to question previous images released by the monarchy, with media such as CNN having announced that they are examining all photos previously transmitted by Kensington Palace.
And this climate of distrust is giving rise to new calls for transparency addressed to members of the royal family, who have a long tradition of secrets.
Earlier this year, King Charles III, 75, was praised for publicly announcing that he was suffering from cancer, although he did not specify what type.
“If the royals really want to transmit important values to the country, they should start by reviewing their approach to the media in favor of transparency [et] scrupulously honest,” says Catherine Mayer, author of a biography on the king.
“They should oppose misinformation, not fuel it.”