Piers Morgan is weighing in on Princess Kate Middleton’s recent Mother’s Day photoshop fail — and believes it could signal that the royals are “hiding something.”
“Why is Princess Catherine, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, spending time hunched over photoshop, making amateur edits of official portraits when they literally have servants to do that. Most baffling of all, why not edit in the missing wedding ring?” Morgan, 58, asked OK! Magazine on Thursday, March 14.
Morgan was referring to the Sunday, March 10, portrait of Kate, 42, and her three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, that was taken by her husband, Prince William, and marked the first official image of the princess since her abdominal surgery in January. Shortly after being posted to Kensington Palace’s social media accounts, fans began to notice that the image had been edited.
“Kate needs a break, I agree, but it was their decision to release this photograph and it’s led to even more conspiracy theories,” Morgan added. “On one level [the edited picture] could be trivial — she could be fine and doing well and tried to do something to correct the conspiracies and got it wrong — or it could be that they’re hiding something.”
Morgan, who knew William’s mother, the late Princess Diana — and has seemingly had inside access to the royals over the years — noted that the mysterious photo could allude to something more serious going on behind the scenes.
“I’ve been told some stuff that, if even half of it is true, it’s pretty alarming what is happening,” he claimed. “I don’t know what to believe, nor do any of us — we’re not there.”
Speculation sparked about Kate’s lengthy recovery time in mid-January when the palace revealed that she would be undergoing a “planned” abdominal surgery and would be stepping away from her public duties until Easter.
After not being seen for weeks, Kate was spotted in a car with her mother, Carole Middleton, earlier this month, per a photo obtained by TMZ at the time. She later was seen riding in a car with William on March 11 as he headed to Commonwealth Day. (She was not in attendance at the event and instead was reportedly on her way to a private appointment.)
Kate’s photoshopped image — which has since been given a “warning” label on Instagram — only continued to fuel rumors of her whereabouts.
One day after the image was posted online, Kate addressed the photo controversy via X, writing, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion.”
On Thursday, March 14, William, 41, spoke about Kate while he was decorating cookies at the new charity facility WEST Youth Zone, saying Kate was “the arty one,” but not addressing her health or the photo.
Earlier this month, a source had exclusively told Us Weekly that Kate wants to keep the details surrounding her condition as “private as possible” and doesn’t intend to share updates with the public anytime soon.
“Kate’s said she feels she’s entitled to heal and recuperate without all of this frenzied speculation,” the insider shared. “Neither Kate nor William think her medical records should be for public consumption.”
