Kensington Palace Feels Heat Over Second “Digitally Enhanced” Image; Kate Middleton Video Emerges

Kensington Palace is facing fresh questions over image editing after Getty Images added an editor’s note to a picture of Queen Elizabeth II taken by Kate Middleton.

Getty said the photo, shared by Kensington Palace in April 2023 on what would have been the late Queen’s 97th birthday, was “digitally enhanced” by the royals.

It is the second picture to raise concerns after major news agencies issued “kill notices” on a Mother’s Day picture of Middleton and her children last week. Middleton apologized.

Getty told Sky News: “Getty Images can confirm that in accordance with its editorial policy it has placed an editor’s note on a handout image stating the image has been digitally enhanced at source.”

Deadline has contacted the picture agency for comment.

The Queen Elizabeth II photo was purportedly taken by Middleton, the Princess of Wales, at Balmoral in the summer of 2022, just months before the monarch’s death.

Phil Chetwynd, global news director of Agence France-Presse (AFP), told the BBC last week that Kensington Palace was no longer a “trusted source” after the furor over the Mother’s Day photo.

“To kill something on the basis of manipulation [is rare. We do it] once a year maybe, I hope less. The previous kills we’ve had have been from the North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency,” he said.

The concerns about the Queen Elizabeth II photo coincided with a video of Middleton emerging following her abdominal surgery in January. The Sun and TMZ were among those to publish the video of Middleton and Prince William at the Windsor Farm Shop over the weekend.

It follows weeks of wild social media speculation about Middleton’s health and whereabouts following her hospital procedure at the start of the year.