Eagle-eyed fans may have spotted another Photoshop faux pas from the royal family.
Social media users were quick to point out that a photo of Kate Middleton leaving Windsor Castle Monday afternoon in the backseat of a chauffeured car appeared to have been doctored.
The image, which seemingly showed the Princess of Wales sitting beside her husband, Prince William, with her face turned away from the camera, featured mismatched bricks on the wall behind them.
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“Has no one else noticed that the most recent photo of #KateMiddleton in the car… the bricks in the car windows, don’t appear to match the bricks outside the car… Is this another photoshopped picture,” one X user pondered Monday.
“The bricks in the picture in the window have new evenly distributed grout layers while the bricks outside the car are from an older building where the grout is uneven & worn away,” another chimed in, explaining the difference between the two brick patterns.
A third person theorized that the image was originally taken during Christmas 2023 — the last time Middleton was seen before undergoing abdominal surgery in January.
“They used a Christmas day photo. They erased her earring, her hat brim can clearly be seen, as can the top be seen obscuring the rectangle in the interior of the car… then they added some noise to make it harder to discern the edits… they are really bad at this!!!” the X user wrote.
However, Jim Bennett, the freelance photographer who snapped the shot, told Pvnew his agency doesn’t “change our photos in photoshop other than adjusting the light levels if necessary.”
Bennett added, “Car shots are unpredictable at the best of times and with some reflection on the glass it can be difficult.”
The new image comes amid reports that the mother of three, 42, regrets sharing an edited photo of herself with her three kids in celebration of Mother’s Day in the UK over the weekend.
A Kensington Palace source told the Telegraph that Middleton feels “awful” about the controversy and only wanted to make the family portrait the “best it could be.”
Meanwhile, a separate insider told the Mirror that the princess would be “upset” by the conspiracy theories about her whereabouts that were sparked by an “innocent family photograph.”
Earlier in the day, Middleton made a rare public statement, releasing an apology for enhancing the snap that also featured Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
“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 on X from the official Prince and Princess of Wales account. “I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”
Fans were quick to point out the editing fails, and multiple photo agencies, including Reuters, Getty Images and the Associated Press, issued a “kill notice” after suspecting that the image had been tampered with.
“At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,” a message from the AP read.
The edits caused widespread concern for Middleton, who has not been seen in public for months, aside from a grainy paparazzi photo taken near Windsor Castle last week.
The palace previously revealed that her “planned abdominal surgery” on Jan. 16, 2024, was a success.
“It is expected that she will remain in hospital for 10 to 14 days, before returning home to continue her recovery,” a spokesperson explained earlier this year.
