Prince William continues royal duties unfazed amid rumors surrounding Kate Middleton photo scandal

LONDON, ENGLAND: As the frenzy surrounding Kate Middleton’s photo botch continues, Prince William carries on with royal duties regally.

Following the Princess of Wales’ planned abdominal surgery in January 2024, Kate’s health remains to be a point of major concern for the fans of the royal family.

However, as Kensington Palace tried to stop the rumor mills by releasing a photo of the mother-of-three along with her three children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis - the media frenzy escalated after the portrait was pulled down from major photo-sharing sites.

Amid all the hullabaloo, Prince William, the king-in-waiting and Kate’s husband appeared non-plussed as he carried on with his royal duties smoothly.

Prince William continues with his royal duties

As Kate continues to wade through the murky waters of failed Photoshop edits, the Prince of Wales was seen completing his royal duties during his visit to Frameless London on Monday, March 11.

The Frameless London is a multi-sensory experience tourist attraction that also hosted the climate initiative event Earthshot Prize Launchpad. During the event, the British king-in-waiting looked calm and composed as he conversed with the environmentalists, per TMZ.

Before attending the event dedicated to climate change, the Prince was photographed leaving Windsor Castle where he was accompanied by Kate. In the paparazzi photo that went viral, Kate was looking out of the window and away from the camera. 

While the car went to Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service, attended by William alongside Queen Camilla, Kate wasn’t present at the event and went to a "private appointment" instead, per RadarOnline.

Kate did not accompany William when he was present at the funeral of Thomas Kingston that took place at Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace in London on Tuesday, March 12, per OK! Magazine.

Kate’s absence from the public engagements is of no surprise as the Palace previously shared in February that the Princess will not be available for royal duties until after Easter. 

The Palace shared with media outlets in February that, "We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant,” per OK! Magazine.

Kate Middleton took the blame for the photo edit fail

After the Prince and Princess of Wales' official account shared the family photograph of Kate with her three children, speculations started regarding the authenticity of the picture.

While some of the hawk-eyed social media users claimed the photo is just a collage of photographs of the family members from Kate's November visit to The Baby Bank in London, others hypothesized Kate's photo was from the Vogue cover she did years ago. 

As the rumors started spinning, the mother-of-three posted an apology message on her social media, signed 'C.' The message read, "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."