Kensington Palace 'no longer trusted' source according to top news agency

A leading news agency boss has said Kensington Palace is 'no longer trusted' as a source after Kate Middleton's edited Mother's Day photo was 'killed'.

What was seemingly intended as a message of reassurance has quickly become a disaster for The Prince and Princess of Wales.

A photo taken by Prince William of Kate with their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, was posted on their X / Twitter and Instagram feeds at 9am GMT on March 10.

It's the first time Kate has been officially pictured since having abdominal surgery in late 2023.

The post said: "Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months."

The picture was then sent by Kensington Palace to several news agencies but a 'kill notice' was issued within hours because of numerous editing inconsistencies within the image.

A 'kill notice' is where members are told to stop circulating the picture because it had been altered so much it no longer met ethical standards.

An expert and social media users counted 18 different errors with the image.

It's the first time international photo agencies have recalled a photograph issued by the Royal Family.

Kate has since apologised for 'any confusion caused' on X / Twitter, adding 'like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing'.

But speaking on BBC Radio 4's The Media Show, Phil Chetwynd, global news director of Agence France-Presse (AFP), said Kensington Palace is 'no longer trusted' as a source.

He said: "It's actually not even very well Photoshopped. There are clearly a lot of issues with the photo. It shouldn't have been validated.

"I think as soon as it was, all of the photo editors at all of the major agencies immediately saw there was a problem and got together and spoke about it and said 'what do we do?'

"Like with anything, when you're let down by a source the bar is raised.

"The previous kills we’ve had have been from the North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency.

"There's a question of trust and the big issue here is one of trust, and the lack of trust and the falling trust of the general public in institutions generally and in the media.

"It's extremely important that a photo does represent broadly the reality that it's seen in."

On March 14, Prince William paid a visit to a youth group in London and in a video posted by Sky News, he said: "My wife is the arty one and my children are more arty than I am."

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