Instagram is warning users about a photo on Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s profile.
After multiple news outlets received a notice to remove a Sunday, March 10, photo of Kate, 42, and her children, as it appeared to have been “manipulated” by the source, the portrait remained on Kate and William’s official Instagram page.
Instagram has now placed a warning message alongside the bottom of the image, which depicts Kate smiling with Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
“Altered photo/video. The same altered photo was reviewed by independent fact-checkers in another post,” the disclaimer reads.
When users click on the warning, a pop-up adds, “Independent fact-checkers say the photo or image has been edited in a way that could mislead people, but not because it was shown out of context.”
Instagram’s action comes after Phil Chetwynd, the global news director of Agence France-Presse, said that Kensington Palace is “absolutely not” a trusted source anymore during a Wednesday, March 13, appearance on the BBC podcast “The Media Show.”
“Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised,” Chetwynd said, noting that photo kill notices are “a big deal” normally reserved for the“North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency.”
The photo editing drama has fueled already rampant conspiracy theories about Kate’s health and whereabouts as she recovers from abdominal surgery. Kensington Palace announced on January 17 that Kate had undergone a “planned” procedure at the London Clinic and was unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.
As rumors swirled about the Princess of Wales, a rep for Kate shut down the speculation about her lengthy recovery period in a statement to Us Weekly last month.
“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” the spokesperson said. “That guidance stands.”
Kate issued a public statement of her own on Monday, March 11, to address the Mother’s Day photo editing scandal.
“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,” read an X post shared via Kate and William’s official account.
Royal expert and public relations strategist David Johnson thinks it was a mistake to have Kate address the controversy herself, as it “raised even more questions” about her condition and the photo.
“By trying to throw the blame on her, it’s created even more of a story,” Johnson told Us on Tuesday, March 12. “It seems almost like … complete chaos dysfunction, and that there’s something waiting to drop and no one knows what it is.”
