'Kill Notices' Issued for New Photo of Kate Middleton

The British royals tried to quell the rampant speculation swirling around the Princess of Wales by releasing a photograph of Kate and her three children to celebrate Mother's Day in the UK on Sunday. But the move only made things worse: People quickly speculated online that the photo appeared to be either poorly Photoshopped or possibly even AI-generated, and it wasn't long before major news agencies were retracting the photograph, purportedly taken by Prince William. The AP says it removed the photo "because it appeared to be manipulated." Per the Hill, Getty Images, Reuters, and AFP also issued so-called "kill notices" for the photo. The image remained on William and Kate's official Instagram and Twitter, but it wasn't long before the latter released a mea culpa, notes the AP: "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."

The AP specifically cited "an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand," but online sleuths pointed out even more questionable parts of the photo, including the fact that it appears Kate is not wearing a wedding ring. While many commenters agreed the whole thing was quite suspect, others pointed out the royals have often released bad Photoshop jobs in the past, and speculated that this was just a clumsy attempt to mash together a number of different photographs in which, perhaps, all three kids were never simultaneously looking at the camera. Among the outlets rounding up some of the more amusing social media reactions are Parade and Yahoo Entertainment. Kensington Palace has not commented. Meanwhile, other news agencies are still reviewing the photograph. (More British royals stories.)