Kate Middleton Has an Explanation for *That* Mother's Day Photoshop Fail

Are you sane, or are you deeply invested in the Kate Middleton conspiracy theories? (Don't answer that.) The latest update in the "Princess of Wales may not actually be recovering from abdominal surgery" saga came on March 10, when @KensingtonRoyal posted a photo of Middleton surrounded by her three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — for Mother's Day in the U.K.

"Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months," the royal shared, alongside the photo, to X. "Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day. C."

Eagle eye observers, however, noticed that the picture contained several Photoshop inconsistencies, namely around Princess Charlotte's sweater and around Middleton's hair. Her wedding ring was also missing from her finger in the image, and Prince William was credited for taking the photo.

The picture inconsistencies also spawned several recalls from several organizations — The Associated Press, who issued a kill notification, which means that photo was pulled from its website. "At closer inspection, it appears that the source" — in this case, the palace — "has manipulated the image," AP shared in a statement with instruction to remove it from all of its platforms.

International photo agency AFP also issued a kill statement that read, "Due to an editorial issue, this photo [internal system number] by Prince of Wales has been withdrawn from AFP systems and may no longer be used in any manner, please immediately remove it from all your online services. Stop using." Reuters, a breaking news outlet also known for sharing videos and photos, additionally issued a statement via X about the Mother's Day image. "We are deleting a post containing an image of the Princess of Wales following a post-publication review," the tweet read.

Following the drama, Middleton issued a statement through her and Prince William's X and instagram accounts that explained the matter, stating that she simply went a little overboard with editing the photo.

"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," she wrote. "I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C."