Kate Middleton photo edit: Piers Morgan fires up

Outspoken British commentator Piers Morgan has weighed in on the scandal surrounding Princess Catherine’s photo edit, demanding the original be released.

The first official photo of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery in January has been released by Kensington Palace. The image, taken by Prince William, shows the princess with her three children Princes Louis and George, and Princess Charlotte. Picture: The Prince of Wales

British broadcaster Piers Morgan said the photoshopping of the picture “made things 100 times worse” for the royal family.

“Rather than douse the flames of gossip, it’s inflamed them, it’s become the gasoline,” he said on his show Piers Morgan Uncensored.

“Why didn’t they realise that of the many, many unedited family pictures the public hasn’t seen, any of those could have done the trick without being heavily edited and without creating suspicion?

“Will they now release the original photograph and tell us exactly when it was taken? Well they’re saying they won’t,” he said.

“That’s the kind of thing that you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist for to think it’s a bit weird.

“It’s a painful lesson for the monarchy perhaps about honesty control in this new age of social media,” Morgan said.

“The only way out of the corner they’ve found themselves in is to tell the full story and release the original photograph. Don’t they owe that now to the public?”

THE 12 CLUES THAT LED TO ‘CONFUSION’ OVER ‘EDITING’

Twelve clues sparked “confusion” over “editing” in Princess Catherine’s family photograph.

The Sun has isolated no fewer than a dozen key clues revealing the snap had been edited.

Initially, fans noticed that Princess Catherine wasn’t wearing her wedding ring, and that there were leaves on a tree in the background that would have no leaves at that time of year.

Now some twelve inconsistencies have been discovered:

– Catherine’s left hand has no wedding ring

– Catherine’s right hand is blurred

– Catherine’s top zipper is broken

– Catherine’s hair is fuzzy, airbrushed

– Louis’ right thumb is blurred

– Charlotte’s cuff is mismatched at wrist

– Charlotte’s tights show green line where airbrushed

– Charlotte’s skirt doesn’t line up

– Distorted ledge Louis leans on

– Distorted windowpane in background

– Skirting board off-kilter

– Leaves on a deciduous tree in March

The Princess of Wales shared a new photo to mark Mother’s Day. Picture: The Prince of Wales.

Two signs: No wedding ring; Charlotte’s awkward wrist. Picture: The Prince of Wales.

The heartwarming photo was shared via social media on Sunday for Mother’s Day, showing the Princess of Wales alongside a laughing Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.

But the image, which was released partly to end speculation about the health of the princess, sparked an online frenzy after royal fans claimed the picture was edited – before photo agencies ordered a “kill notice”.

The Princess of Wales has now revealed she experimented with editing as she apologised for “any confusion the family photograph caused”.

She wrote on social media: “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.”

However, in an extraordinary move, five respected international news agencies have refused to distribute it and asked clients to immediately remove the image.

The agencies – Agence France Presse, Reuters, Associated Press, Getty Images and Press Association – raised concerns it was altered in some way.

“At closer inspection it appears the source has manipulated the image,” a note from AP to clients said.

It is standard practice for picture agencies to withdraw edited images.

The notice issued by AFP news agency asking for the picture to be removed.

Getty Images said the “kill notice” had been ordered for “editorial reasons”.

A spokesperson for the UK’s national news agency Press Association 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.”

‘LEAVE IT ALONE’ SAYS CATHERINE’S UNCLE

Princess Catherine’s uncle Gary Goldsmith, who was evicted from Celebrity Big Brother on Friday, pleaded with the public to “leave it alone” when he appeared on Good Morning Britain.

“The smiles on faces said it all for me, I thought it was beautiful,” Mr Goldsmith said.

“The family wouldn’t be the ones to do any touch ups, so that’s gone through some filter before it’s gone out to the world,” he said speaking before Princess Catherine’s mea culpa.

A Kensington Palace source said the Wales’s wanted to offer an informal picture taken by the prince of the family get together for Mother’s Day.

“Afterwards the princess made minor adjustments that she shared in her statement on social media,” the source said.

“This was an amateur, family photograph taken by the Prince of Wales.

“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.

CSIRO research scientist Dr Sharif Abuadbba said technology was moving so quickly deep fakes and altering images could almost be invisible at first glance.

“As you saw in the image today, it’s not easy to tell,” Dr Abuadbba said on Monday.

Prince Louis’s blurred fingers and workbench. Picture: The Prince of Wales.

Distorted window pane; fuzzy hair. Picture: The Prince of Wales.

He thought it far more likely it was a Photoshop fail than AI created.

“This seems like this is more tampering with the image around [Princess Charlotte’s] hand … it’s more like a preliminary photoshopping,” Dr Abuadbba said.

Dr Abuadbba, who has a PHD in computer security, said there were often “telltale signs” in doctored images – including people’s fingers and lighting on people’s foreheads or hair.

Princess Catherine was seen for the first time since her surgery last week when she was photographed in a car driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, near Windsor Castle.

She wore large dark glasses and looking a little downcast as she was driven home to Adelaide Cottage.

Originally published as Kate Middleton photo edit: Piers Morgan fires up