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As we discussed a few days ago, Getty Images added a disclaimer on the photo/screencap from the Princess of Wales’s cancer-announcement video. We don’t know when the editor’s note was added, but it was likely over the weekend and the story has been percolating this week. Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted or credible source for photo agencies or news agencies, not after the Mother’s Day frankenphoto fiasco. Several outlets are even doing reviews of previous KP-issued photos, double-checking them to see if they were edited or manipulated. Now Getty Images seems to be indicating that there’s something questionable about Kate’s video, which was released on March 22, but reportedly filmed in Windsor on the 20th (or at least that’s what KP claimed). There’s nothing new to the story – yet – but Vanity Fair did get Getty’s spokesperson on the record:
A picture is worth a thousand words, but if that picture was released by Kensington Palace, Getty Images may have a few more words to add. The news photo agency appended an editor’s note to last month’s video of Kate Middleton sharing her shock cancer diagnosis, warning audiences that it “may not adhere” to the group’s standards for work produced by their own photographers and videographers.
“EDITOR’S NOTE: This Handout clip was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images’ editorial policy,” reads the disclaimer alongside the caption info, without elaborating specifically where the pre-recorded clip might deviate from Getty’s policies.
A spokesperson for Getty Images declined to elaborate further when contacted by Vanity Fair via email. “Getty Images includes a standard editors note to handout content provided by third party organizations,” the spokesperson said.
This doesn’t appear to be the case with all handout content, however. For example, a 2023 handout from Buckingham Palace from the coronation of King Charles III, a posed family portrait taken by royal photographer Hugo Bernand, does not bear the note, nor does the 2023 holiday portrait of the Wales family, a handout from Kensington Palace taken by Josh Shinner. Notably, when the Christmas photo was released, viewers speculated that it may have been manipulated, pointing especially to Princess Kate and Prince William’s youngest child, Prince Louis, appearing to be missing his middle finger on one hand.
Following the [Mother’s Day] incident, more images were identified as having been edited, including one shared by Buckingham Palace on what would have been the late Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday in 2023. The image, which is credited again to Kate, depicts the queen with several of her grandchildren at Balmoral. Getty Images added a note: “EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced at source.”
A spokesperson told VF then that the agency was “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.” They declined to share the scope of the review.
In the case of the new messaging with Kate’s announcement video, Getty declined to specify when or why they had appended the note, nor why other handout materials from the royal family did not bear it.
“We are not commenting further than the statement,” the spokesperson said. “As the statement says, it is standard note that is now added to handouts provided by third party organisations.”
As VF points out, there’s nothing “standard” about the editor’s note – I searched for the exact wording (“This Handout clip was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images’ editorial policy”) and basically, the note was only added to NASA handouts. My theory is that CNN, Getty and probably other outlets are still investigating the Kensington Palace handouts and they’ll release their findings months from now, when the cancer news isn’t so fresh. Meanwhile, Getty wanted to tip their hand that A) KP lacks credibility and B) that something in the milk ain’t clean.
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace/BBC Studios, screencap courtesy of Getty Images.
