Kate Middleton controversy: Kensington Palace no longer a 'trusted source' for photo agency

The Kensington Palace is not considered as a trusted source anymore according to a leading photo agency. The Palace has been facing a lot of flack ever since it released an edited photo of Princess Kate Middleton and her three children on the occasion of Mother's Day.

"Like with anything, when you're let down by a source, the bar is raised," Phil Chetwynd, global news director of AFP, explained on an episode of the BBC's The Media Show.

Middleton has remained out of the public eye since December25. Buckingham Palace reported that the Princess of Wales had been admitted to the hospital for a planned abdominal surgery on January 17. Speculations and concerns over her well-being have just been growing on social media ever since. Kate has appeared in public only once postsurgery.

Kate Middleton's first photo post-surgery pulled down by news agencies following allegations of 'manipulation'

Photo controversy

The doctored image of her with her children was released on Mother's Day amid speculations about her absence.

The picture quickly became news as it was likely intended to quell speculation over the princess's whereabouts.

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for Kensington Palace told Fox News Digital," Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery, and we’d only be providing significant updates. The guidance in January stands that the Princess would be recuperating at home in Windsor."The spokesperson emphasised Middleton was "doing well."

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However, the edited image only fueled speculation about her whereabouts and health.

A day later, Kate apologised and admitted that the image shared online had been edited."Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she wrote on social media.

"I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

"We don't have anything to add," the palace confirmed when asked for comments about the digitally altered photo.

Soon after Middleton's admission, Instagram put an "altered photo" label on the post. The account has 15.2 million followers.

"Independent fact-checkers say the photo or image has been edited in a way that could mislead people, but not because it was shown out of context," the warning read.

Kensignton Palace a trusted source?

Before Middleton's Photoshop error, AFP's Chetwynd said that the agency considered Kensington Palace as a "trusted source."

"So, in the case of the Palace or Kensington Palace, these are … people that we work with all the time," he explained.

"They would (be a trusted source), because we've worked with them repeatedly and because usually it would be our own photographer doing stories with them," Chetwynd added

. "And occasionally there were handout photos of key moments such as this, which we would be used to dealing with. So, there's a level of trust between us and them at that point."

Kate was spotted soon after the Instagram photo controversy erupted.

On Monday, hours after Kate Middleton admitted to the photoshopped guffaw, photographer Jim Bennett captured her and Prince William while leaving Windsor Castle for Westminster Abbey to attend Commonwealth Day Service.