We Looked Into The Royal Family's History Of Editing Photos (& It's Not Good)

The royal family needs to put photoshopping on their resume, although they're not very good at it. Kate Middleton's latest photo has brought the royal family's editing skills to light, and it turns out that it's not the first time they have faked parts of their photos.

After going missing from the public eye for months due to an abdominal surgery, the royal family dropped the first official photo of Kate in March 2024 in honor of U.K.'s Mother's Day. In the picture, the Princess of Wales hugged her three children while smiling at the camera. What seemed like a seemingly sweet and innocent portrait became something much more after the internet discovered that noticeable editing had been done, specifically around Kate's wrist hugging her daughter Charlotte. The image, which was given to various news outlets, was pulled from publication after discovering heavier editing had been involved, per Associated Press.

Kate later tweeted a strange excuse for the edited photo on X, formerly known as Twitter. The royal said, "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..." While Kate may have taken the blame for this Photoshop blunder, this isn't the first time the royal family has explored editing. After the news of Kate's mistake broke, several photos resurfaced showing that the royal family has a deep history of tweaking, and it's not great.

Every year, the royals drop a Christmas photo that makes us feel like part of the family. In 2023, Prince William and Kate Middleton posed with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, in a black and white photo that many said was giving JCPenney photoshoot vibes. They captained the picture, "Our family Christmas card for 2023." It looked like your typical Christmas card at first, but people started to notice what seemed to be a major Photoshop fail – even SNL poked fun of the mistake.

After taking a closer look at the family portrait, people realized that one of Prince Louis' fingers, which was resting on the arm of a chair, appeared to be missing. One user commented, "It's all PHOTOSHOP.. PRINCE LOUIS IS MISING A FINGER. VERY BAD EDITING." It wasn't just Louis' finger that raised questions with social media users; the internet also claimed there was an extra leg in the photo. Someone commented, "Photoshop fail!! There's an extra leg in this picture!!!! How did the photographer did not notice?? Omg." While some users came to the defense of the royal family, providing reasons for the mistakes, others weren't as convinced.

The conversation around the image had gotten so bad that it reportedly bothered the royals. A source told Us Weekly that Prince William and Kate were embarrassed over how people thought the photo was edited, and they "were as shocked as everyone else" by the reaction from the internet.

Queen Elizabeth II sadly passed away in 2022, but the royal family continues to honor her every chance they get. In April 2023, Kensington Palace released a photo taken by Kate Middleton of the late queen alongside several of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in honor of her birthday. They wrote, "Today would have been Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth's 97th birthday. This photograph — showing her with some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren — was taken at Balmoral last summer." At first, the photo didn't raise much concern with the public, but with Kate's Mother's Day Photoshop slip up, the image resurfaced with reports of it being edited.

According to CNN, there are 19 inconsistencies with the picture. Some of these errors included that the lighting on Prince George's "right cheek is inconsistent with how the light falls on other people in the photograph," and several patterns on clothing and furniture were misaligned. A Getty Images spokesperson spoke with CBS News about the photo and how they are taking a closer look to address any altering that may have taken place. They said, "Getty Images is 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." Ironically, this snap of Queen Elizabeth II was captured by Kate, so maybe it's just the Princess of Wales that struggles with Photoshop. 

It seems that Prince William and Kate Middleton find themselves at the center of all of these Photoshop errors, and they had a second Christmas card fail a couple of years back. In 2015, the Prince and Princess of Wales released their annual Christmas card, which featured their two kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte; Prince Louis had not been born yet.

The photographer, Chris Jelf, spilled the deets to Express on the photoshoot and what an honor it was to take the royal's picture. He said, "I thoroughly enjoyed photographing a very lovely family, although you have to be sharp as you don't have long when there are two young children involved! I hope everyone enjoys this photo and I am honoured that the Duke and Duchess have decided to share it with the public." Although he was thrilled that the photo was shared with the public, it also opened the doors for criticism.

People noticed what they thought to be an editing error involving Princess Charlotte in the image. Several online users believed that Charlotte was altered because, around her neck, there was a blurry consistency that made it seem like she was photoshopped in. One X user wrote, "Why did they photoshop princess Charlotte into the xmas card? Omg." The royals did not confirm whether the photo was modified, but Princess Charlotte's blurry neck and sweater were all the internet needed to be convinced that it was edited.

The royal family loves to drop new photos, but that doesn't mean they are all good. In June 2020, they released a new image of Queen Elizabeth II with her husband, Prince Philip, in honor of the prince's birthday. They said, "This new photograph of The Duke of Edinburgh and The Queen was taken last week in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle to mark His Royal Highness's 99th birthday tomorrow." In the photo, Elizabeth and Philip stood side by side, smiling at the camera. It was a picture-perfect moment until people noticed that Queen Elizabeth II's hands seemed to be edited in the photo. Near the royal's wrist was a black shadow, which made it look like someone had placed her hands there after the photo was taken.

People online quickly called out the error, poking fun at the royal family's photographic revisions. One person tweeted, "Do you need help with the photoshop guys?" While the editing flub initially focused on Queen Elizabeth II, people also suggested that Prince Philip could have had some revamps done as well. One user wrote, "The perspective seems wrong. Should Philip's head be that much above Windsor Castle from this close distance? It looks like they were photoshopped into the scene." The public had their doubts about the image, and with their previous editing fails, it wouldn't be a far stretch to consider this image had undergone some alterations.

After Kate Middleton's major Photoshop slip-up in March 2024, Getty Images decided to reevaluate some of the royal family's photos to see if any other snaps were tailored. According to the Daily Mail, the agency had flagged Queen Elizabeth II's photo with her grandchildren and great grandchildren which we previously addressed, but the queen's picture wasn't the only one brought into question by the agency. Apparently, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son, Prince Archie's, christening photo was temporarily flagged as "digitally enhanced" by Getty Images. It wasn't just the family of three in the image, several other royal family members, including King Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, Meghan's mother Doria Ragland, and Princess Diana's sisters were also in the photo.

Despite Getty Images claims, the photographer, Chris Allerton, denied that there was any major editing involved, calling the agency's allegations "a load of cobblers," per Daily Mail. While initial thoughts were that the photo may have been edited, Getty Images has since clarified to People that there were "no issues" with the image. Getty Images explained that several photos from the royal family were brought into question and had an "editor's note" if there was believed to be any altering involved. However, with Meghan and Harry's photo, they didn't find any work done. They said, "The image in question had an editor's note placed on it while under review and that note has now been removed with no issues found."