A photo showing the late Queen Elizabeth surrounded by several of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren has been “digitally enhanced,” according to a leading photo agency.
The picture, which the royal family says was snapped by Catherine, Princess of Wales, was originally shared by the royal family in April 2023 to honor what would have been the queen’s 97th birthday. The long-reigning British monarch died in September 2022.
In the photo, the queen is seen surrounded by many of her youngest family members, including the three children of her grandson, Prince William, and Catherine, Princess of Wales.
On Tuesday, Getty Images, a photo agency that many media organizations use to source news images, issued an editor’s note about the 2023 picture of Queen Elizabeth and her family, saying the image had “been digitally enhanced at source.”
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An analysis of the photo by NBC News found evidence of editing inconsistencies in the picture, including evidence of “cloning,” or copying one portion of an image and pasting it onto another area of the photo.
NBC News’ analysis also found that the jaw and neck areas of both Prince Louis and Prince George appeared to have been altered, possibly to hide the appearance of a lens flare or to clean up their face lines.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the photo in an email to NBC News.
This is not the first royal family photo that has faced scrutiny in recent days. Earlier this month, several major news agencies retracted another photo shared by the Prince and Princess of Wales for Mother’s Day in the U.K., saying the picture had been “manipulated.”
In the photo, which Kensington Palace says was taken by William, Kate was pictured sitting with her children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
The Associated Press explained its decision to retract the photo in a statement to NBC News.
“At closer inspection, it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards,” the news agency’s statement read, in part. “The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”
On March 11, Kate appeared to offer a personal apology for the “confusion” over the photo of her and her children.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” read a post on the X account of the Prince and Princess of Wales. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”
The princess has been staying out of the limelight over the past few months because she is recovering from a planned abdominal surgery, according to Kensington Palace.
In a January statement, the palace said the princess was “unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
While Kate’s absence was pre-announced, rumors and conspiracy theories about her health and whereabouts have been making the rounds online.
According to an article over the weekend in Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper, the princess is well aware of the speculation swirling around her and her family.
On TODAY on March 18, Sunday Times royals editor Roya Nikkhah discussed the possible effect of the media frenzy on the Prince and Princess of Wales.
“As parents of three young children, who are not immune to hearing some of the things going around in the media and social media, I think they’re finding that very hard,” she said.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
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