News Agencies Recall Kate Middleton Photo That Has Been Altered

Cristiano

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Well, darn! I'll bow to the expert opinion, even if it does ruin a rip-roaring conspiracy theory. :D

I still think the whole thing is dodgy, but mainly it's proof of the royal propensity to create PR chaos from what should be easy fluffy stuff.
I am not convinced that it is not a composite photo. It would have been stupid to use the famous vogue cover, but that photo is still all kinds of off. I generate better photos with AI :p I created this just now:

553

Changing the dress to white but leaving the rest the same in the prompt:
554
 

Sid

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Conspiracy lovers will make conspiracy theories.
The British tabloids will be the worst of their kind as always.
The storm in the teacup will be in the news until there is no wrinkle to see any longer in the cup.

Princes Kate did what almost everybody does these days: add some vanity enhancements to a photo. Big deal.
 

Cristiano

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Princes Kate did what almost everybody does these days: add some vanity enhancements to a photo. Big deal.
No, that is not what happened here. It is a big deal for press agencies to kill a photo. This was not some filtered image on her Instagram, this was an official photo released by the palace. There are standards for what is allowed as far as photo editing. Given the fact that she has been MIA for months, the fact that this image seems unusually fake and the follow up response has been so braindead does nothing to dispel the idea that something is wrong with Kate Middleton. This has just fueled speculation that all is not well in the house of Windsor.
 

Sid

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Sure it fuels speculation. But there would be speculations anyhow. That is the modern time we live in. Speculations get more and more important.
Sometimes even more important than the news itself: Kate has undergone surgery and will be on sick leaf at least until the end of this month: After Easter.
That was the news all the time.

I think if the palace would want to give out fake pictures, they would hire an expert to do so.
This is a picture from Kate's private stock. Clearly photo shopped by an amateur: Kate herself. She admitted that. End of story in fact.

That there are a lot of people who want to know more about her actual situation is not really important.
They are not puppets who have to dance on request from their audience. They have the rights of privacy, just like anybody else. Whatever the British tabloids think is not really relevant here. They have driven a royal into death for a picture on their front page in the past. They have chased one of her sons out of the royal family as well. So their opinions are really not the standard here IMHO.
 
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Innula Zenovka

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I'm no fan of the monarchy, and in an ideal world I'd rather have a parliamentary democracy with an elected ceremonial head of state, as they do in Ireland and Germany. However, we don't live in an ideal world, there's at present no great public appetite to change the current system, and I don't see the point of spending a huge amount of time and energy to replace something that works pretty well as it is, particuarly since the government of the day would almost certainly try to use the change to give the Prime Minister in their own right some of the powers they currently use on behalf of the Sovereign, which I wouldn't like at all since it would open up a huge can of worms marked "Executive Privilege".

Having said that, I think this is pretty much a non-issue. As Sid says, she's an amateur photographer who decided to issue her own photo that she'd retouched herself with Photoshop, and has discovered the hard way that what works for family photos doesn't always work for ones you release to the press. She's recovering from a major operation (any almost any abdominal surgery involves a lot of recovery, I think, because it necessary damages muscles that you need to walk and stand), and is expected back at work by the end of the month.

When that happens, I'll continue to pay as little notice to the doings of the Royal Family as I generally do, until the next time one of them does something particulary stupid.
 

Sid

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I'm totally no fan of kingdoms either, but as long as we have them, we should treat those people in their platinum cages with the respect a royal deserves.
Not as the British tabloids think it should be. They are among the worlds most worthless newspapers of the free world on my list.
 

Cristiano

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I'm totally no fan of kingdoms either, but as long as we have them, we should treat those people in their platinum cages with the respect a royal deserves.
Not as the British tabloids think it should be. They are among the worlds most worthless newspapers of the free world on my list.
Those same royals use those tabloids to their own ends when it auits them. Not a lot of sympathy here.
 
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Sid

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Look at the smile from the eldest son and then look at this.....



Is it just me, or ....... *



* See how easy conspiracy theories can be made?
 
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