An apparent effort by the Royal Family to quell conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton’s health failed in spectacular fashion over the weekend.
Kensington Palace released a photo of the Princess of Wales and her three children to celebrate Mother’s Day in the U.K., but the picture was ‘killed’ hours later by photo agencies around the globe due to concerns about editing and manipulation.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan to discuss the bizarre controversy and what could really be going on with the princess.
The Photo
After seeing nothing more than a single, grainy paparazzi picture of Kate since her “planned abdominal surgery” in January, the official social media accounts of the prince and princess of Wales released a photo of Kate alongside Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis on Sunday.
It was captioned “thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day” and signed with a “C,” which implies the message came from Kate directly. The photo credit was awarded to Prince William and dated 2024.
The Backlash
The seemingly sweet snap of the smiling brood spread like wildfire on the internet, and it didn’t take long for photographers and royal watchers to call the veracity of the image into question.
Eagle-eyed observers cited Charlotte’s left arm, Kate’s blurry hand and lack of wedding rings, Louis’ sweater, and the symmetry of the window panes as just a few of the potentially doctored elements of the picture.
Some wondered if it was created by artificial intelligence, while others accused the entire thing of being photoshopped together. On X, The Daily Mirror’s Ruby Naldrett suggested the photo of Kate was actually ripped from a 2016 British Vogue cover.
All of this led to the unprecedented step of major photo agencies – including the Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters and the AFP – removing the image from their libraries. The AP, for example, issued a “kill notification” to anyone using the photo and alerted news outlets that after “closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.” It added that “no replacement photo will be sent.”
The move seemingly forced Kensington Palace to offer a mea culpa. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the @KensingtonRoyal account posted on X. “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”
Conspiracies Abound
But the statement did little to quiet the rumors. From the lack of transparency surrounding Kate’s health to the strange saga surrounding the picture, Callahan said the entire situation feels Hitchcockian. “It’s feeling like 1930s film noir with a heroine in peril and we can’t quite figure out what’s going on,” she said. “These are such a series of unforced errors, I feel, on the part of Kensington Palace.”
For starters, Callahan does not believe the princess “unilaterally” released the photo. “This was something that was thought about and debated and strategized,” she said. “It makes you wonder who their advisors are because all of these missteps are completely of their own making.”
The plan – whatever it may have been – backfired. “To have all these global news agencies say, ‘We have to pull this picture, it’s a fake,’ and then to have her post an apology taking the fall for it when she is sick… if anybody should have taken the fall, it should have been Prince William who was credited as the photographer,” she explained. “Whether Kate did it or not, she never should have had to take that fall.”
Almost on cue, the princess was photographed in a car with her husband on Monday, but her face was, curiously, not visible. “She was photographed in the backseat of a car alongside Prince William, but her head was turned away from the cameras, she’s looking away,” Callahan noted. “And that, to me, reads as an act of defiance, like, ‘Now you’re going to make me present myself in public again to make up for this epic failure of public relations? I refuse to do it.'”
At the end of the day, Megyn said she keeps coming back to a simple question: Why? “Why can’t Kate Middleton just sit down and take a photo with her three children,” she asked. “You can sit and have a photograph with your children… even when you look your absolute worst, like when you just… had the new baby.”
With that in mind, Megyn wondered what Kensington Palace is trying to hide. “Why wouldn’t she do it? What’s the problem? I don’t know what they’re trying to cover up,” she concluded. “That’s my real question: All of this is toward what end? What’s wrong with her that she can’t be on camera even for a photo with her children?”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 743 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.