6 months ago
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I’ve already seen some of the TikToks and tweets claiming that the Princess of Wales’s cancer announcement video was manipulated or that it was AI. While I absolutely believe there has been a wealth of shenanigans over “images of Kate” this year, my personal opinion is that the video is authentic. As in, that’s really Kate sitting there, speaking to camera. To me, the story is that someone – possibly Kate herself – realized that it was necessary to put Kate in front of a camera and show people that she’s alive and she can speak for herself. I don’t blame people for wondering if there’s some kind of conspiracy with this video too, because (as I said), it’s been nonstop bullsh-t from Kensington Palace all year. Which is why I’m glad that the palace didn’t do the video in-house, with like Jason Knauf on his iPhone or whatever. They brought in a BBC team:
A BBC staff member who shot the video message of the Princess of Wales announcing her cancer diagnosis has opened about the filming of the announcement and suggestions the footage was edited.
In the video, which was said to have been recorded on Wednesday, the future queen said: “In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.”
A BBC Studios insider said there had been no editing of the video and what viewers saw was what was shot by the team, who were also responsible for covering the King’s Coronation and Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. BBC Studios had no editorial input into the message that was conveyed and were non involved in the distribution of the video and made no edits to the recording.
This followed controversy over a ‘manipulated’ Mother’s Day photo of Kate with her children which was later withdrawn with a ‘kill’ notice by international agencies after there were suspicions that it had been digitally altered.
After the video was aired, BBC Studios issued a short statement, which read: “BBC Studios filmed a message from the Princess of Wales at Windsor this week. We would like to wish Her Royal Highness a speedy recovery.”
Would it be even more credible if someone from the BBC went on the record as a named source and said “I was there, we shot on such-and-such camera and we filmed it at 3:13 pm on Wednesday?” For sure. But British media can’t help themselves – even in moments where a named source would simply lend credibility to the palace awash in shenanigans, they can’t stop hiding behind anonymity. The unnamed-sourcing within the British media reflects the poor state of journalism over there. As for questions about the backdrop… my first viewing was that they absolutely shot it outdoors on a bench. But maybe it really was a backdrop, that I don’t know.
Screencaps courtesy of Kensington Palace.
