Kate Middleton's surprising reaction to Mother's Day photoshop controversy revealed

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Kate Middleton's alleged true reaction to the Mother's Day photoshop controversy was recently revealed by Robert Hardman in the updated version of his book, 'Charles III: The Making of a King', as per SheKnows.

In a piece for Daily Mail, Hardman stated that the Waleses and their staff were astonished to see the "oddly exaggerated and almost performative response" to the photo. 

One of their aides supposedly told him, "There were several factors. Anything written or said about the Princess of Wales at that point was at fever pitch and front page news. It also spoke to the nervousness of the photography industry around AI and their future."

They added, "Even so, the reaction seemed extremely disproportionate."

Kate Middleton just wanted to 'bring some joy to the nation' with Mother's Day photo

The tipster further noted, "This had just been a mother deciding to share a personal picture of her and her children on Mother's Day to bring some joy to the nation. That's all."

Hardman added, "Within Kensington Palace and Adelaide Cottage, the Waleses' home at Windsor, there was no great soul-searching the next day."

"The Prince and Princess have agency in everything. They are the final decision-makers," told the Kensington Palace insider to the author. 

"If there was frustration that the media should be making quite such a meal of a well-intentioned, homespun gesture, there was no time to dwell on it," conjectured the royal expert. 

Kate Middleton issued an apology over the edited Mother's Day photo

The controversy unfolded when Kate Middleton was out of the public eye following her planned abdominal surgery in January.

An official statement issued by Kensington Palace at the time read, "The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery." 

It also mentioned that she was "unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter."

However, her prolonged absence left the public restless, leading the Princess of Wales to share a photo of herself surrounded by her children to mark Mothering Sunday. 

Chaos soon followed, with the Associated Press declaring at the time, "At closer inspection, it appears that the source has manipulated the image," and the photo was eventually "killed" by major agencies. 

The following day, Kate issued an apology on social media, writing, "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. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C." 

However, the apology did no good, with royal expert Amanda Matta saying at the time, "People will be much more hesitant to criticize Kate than they would an inept PR team. The public does not trust [the royal family]. People aren’t buying the story that Kate edited this because they have no incentive to."