Kate Middleton's Photo Scandal Is Still a PR Crisis Despite Prince William Praising His Wife During Recent Speech
Kate Middleton's recent photo editing scandal is a PR nightmare for the royals, according to an expert.
Prince William recently mentioned Kate Middleton during a speech, but his commentary wasn't enough to put an end to the Princess of Wales' photo editing scandal.
Fans of the the pair continue to wonder about Kate's whereabouts, and her altered Mother's Day image only fueled speculation.
"My wife is the arty one," William said while decorating cookies with children at Shepherd’s Bush on Thursday, March 14. "My children are artier than I am."
Aside from talking about Kate's creative skills, the Prince of Wales hinted at his wife honoring her predecessor, Princess Diana, during his speech at The Diana Awards hours after spending the day with kids.
"I know that she would have been honored to see a charity in her name doing such inspirational work to uplift young people from all corners of the globe,'' the future king shared. "She taught me that everyone has the potential to give something back; that everyone in need deserves a supporting hand in life."
"That legacy is something that both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work, as have the 50,000 young people who have received a Diana Award over the past 25 years," he added.
Although William's mention of Kate was affectionate the global news director of Agence France-Presse Phil Chetwynd shared that Kensington Palace is not a "trusted source" due to Kate's doctored image being sent to the global press.
"Like with anything, when you're let down by a source, the bar is raised," Chetwynd said on The Media Show.
On Instagram, the snapshot of Kate with her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, includes a cautionary message on their site.
"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," a warning read when looking at the post.
Kate's return to social media impacted the palace's integrity, but British broadcaster Helena Chard thinks the mom-of-three isn't solely at fault for the blunder.
"The Princess of Wales released an edited photo with good intentions. We should not blame her for the whole fallout," Chard told an outlet. "The private secretary and Kensington Palace communication team should have advised and protected the Princess of Wales. The photo should not have been released as a news photo."
After the future queen admitted to altering the photo, fans began to beg Kate's team to release the original snapshot, but PR expert Doug Eldridge doesn't think that will completely restore the public's faith in the monarchy.
"Digitally altering a photo was a perplexing move to begin with, but purportedly using a photo which had already run in commercial magazines is even more bizarre," Eldridge said, referring to the ongoing conspiracy theory that Kate used her Vogue cover instead of posting a recent image.
"There has long been AI software that can detect forgeries in high-priced artwork or edits and augmentations to photographs. That said, digitally altering a photo in this day and age – especially when it's related to a circumstance of such speculation – seems like a shortsighted strategy, at best," he concluded.
Powered by RedCircle
Experts spoke to Fox News Digital.
