An internet sleuth has gone to new lengths to try to identify the origin of Kate Middleton’s doctored Mother’s Day photo — and is convinced it was repurposed and edited from images captured at a November charity outing.
“I have a strong suspicion that this ‘new’ photo of Kate Middleton and her children was taken in November 2023 [based] on the outfits,” said TikToker Allyn Aston in an analysis on her account.
“There is ample evidence of bad Photoshop throughout this photo and it is my personal opinion that it is because it is old and they try to change the outfits so that it didn’t look like a match,” she added.
The viral analysis — which was viewed some 210,000 times in just a few hours — shows just how deep royals fans are going down the rabbit hole.
A separate theory that’s gained traction online is that the Duchess of Wales’ face in the Mother’s Day shot was taken from her 2016 Vogue magazine cover.
Aston compared the clothing worn in the new photo — allegedly the first image of the Princess of Wales since she underwent abdominal surgery earlier this year — with outfits worn by Kate and her kids at an event they attended at a local baby clothes bank in November, which was documented in a video released in December.
Drawing on royal fashion blogs, Aston identified the brand of the cream-colored turtleneck sweater Middleton wore to the Baby Bank, and claimed she matched its unique ribbing to the navy sweater she wore in the new photo.
“Yes, I know a lot of turtlenecks look the same, but I do believe that this was photoshopped to be darker and it was just that cream sweater, because they don’t make it in another color, they make it in cream and in camel,” Aston said.
She also matched the boots Middleton wore in the Mother’s Day photo with the same pair she wore to the Baby Bank.
Next she moved on to Princess Charlotte’s outfit, matching her ruffled red collar in the Mother’s Day photo almost perfectly with the shirt she wore to the event last year.
“It doesn’t stop there, because take a look at the shoes that her daughter was wearing that day,” she said. “These are the same exact shoes and probably the same tights because the photos are a little bit saturated and I can’t see the rubbing in the original one — but it’s definitely the same shoes.”
Breaking down Kate Middleton's Photoshop fail
- On Monday, Kensington Palace released a new photo and statement from Kate Middleton for UK Mother’s Day. Eagle-eyed fans immediately saw the photo — showing Kate surrounded by her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — was littered with mistakes, either from Photoshop or AI.
- The photo, the original of which Kensington Palace refuses to release, was quickly recalled by photo agencies over fears it had been digitally “manipulated.”
- Middleton issued an apology Monday after her photo went viral for its numerous Photoshop errors. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said.
- One major telltale sign of manipulation was that a portion of Charlotte’s wrist seems to be missing from under the chopped-off sleeve of her cardigan. Charlotte’s checkered skirt likewise does not line up, with the right edge sticking out at a strange right angle and overlapping with George’s hands.
- Another unusual detail that raised questions about the image’s veracity is Prince Louis’ crossed fingers on his right hand — and a seemingly fuzzy and broken pattern on the right sleeve of his gray sweater.
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Aston then addressed Prince George, noting that the pattern on his collar in the Mother’s Day photo was strikingly similar to the shirt he wore at the baby clothes bank, and speculated the shirts were the same and that, like his mother’s sweater, it had been darkened in the new photo.
“It’s weird to me that Kate is wearing a sweater that looks suspiciously exactly like that cream sweater except just happens to be darker, with the same exact shoes, and the same exact kind of looking pants, and then her daughter’s wearing the same exact sweater with the ruffled neck, with the same exact shoes, and possibly the same tights,” Aston said.
After acknowledging that Charlotte’s skirt in the Mother’s Day photo did not match what she wore at the Baby Bank, the TikToker pointed out that the skirt was “one the most glaring photo shop issues in this photo.”
She noted how Charlotte’s sleeve above the skirt had been visibly erased, and that the opposite end of the skirt jutted out at an unnatural angle, suggesting that the skirt had been superimposed on the image during editing.
In a follow up video, Aston noted that her viewers had pointed out what appeared to be a white string bracelet poking out from Charlotte’s sleeve — a perfect match to the bracelet she wore at the Baby Bank event.
She also noted that Prince Louis wore a shirt with a similar checked pattern in both the photo and at the baby clothes bank event.
Whatever the answer, royal palace insiders have downplayed the scandal, and commended Kate for owning up to photoshopping the pic.
“[Kate] has apologized and graciously so,” the insider says. “She has done something that 99% of us do — and we don’t have the scrutiny that they do,” a palace insider told PEOPLE.
“She might be a member of the royal family, but she’s also a human being. If you’ve just had an operation, you want to look your best with the first photograph that’s published for the outside world.
