Kate Middleton makes key decisions for royals as future queen: expert
True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen says the Princess of Wales is ‘the power behind the throne’ as she prepares to be a supportive queen consort for Prince William.
Kate Middleton and Prince William have a royal dilemma on their hands.
A source recently told the U.K.’s Sunday Times the Prince and Princess of Wales are still planning to release a birthday photo of their youngest son, Prince Louis. The child turns 6 on April 23.
However, the palace insider claimed the couple is still debating who the photographer should be amid their ongoing photo scandal.
"My suggestion would be to either have Kate take the photo and not retouch it or have Kate take it and explain in advance how and why she altered the photo, or have a professional photographer take it and do all the explaining," Christopher Andersen, author of "The King," told Fox News Digital.
It's unknown if Kate Middleton will photograph her son Prince Louis for his upcoming birthday portrait. (Chris Jackson)
"I mean, will it really matter?" he shared. "The conspiracy theories will continue anyway. That particular genie is out of the bottle."
In January, Kensington Palace announced that the Princess of Wales had unspecified abdominal surgery and would be out of sight for weeks. The news quickly triggered speculation and gossip about her health. However, an admission from the 42-year-old that she altered an official family photo – one that was supposed to reassure the public that she was doing well – made things worse.
It’s a rare misstep for the princess, who has hardly put a foot wrong in her journey from William’s shy "commoner" girlfriend to the glamorous young mother of three who, more than any royal since Princess Diana, boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide.
AP News issued a "photo kill" notice on a picture of Kate Middleton and her children she released to the public. (AP News)
Another photo taken by the princess, which showed the late Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by 10 of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Balmoral, has also come under fire.
The photo was released by Kensington Palace on what would have been Queen Elizabeth's 97th birthday in April 2023. The monarch died in September 2022.
A Getty Images spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, "Getty Images is undertaking a review of handout images and, in accordance with its editorial policy, is placing an editor’s note on images where the source has suggested they could be digitally enhanced."
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Getty Images added an editors' note to its website, cautioning clients that the image was "digitally enhanced at source."
"There's no comment from Kensington Palace," a representative told Fox News Digital regarding the situation.
The Telegraph documented a litany of potential problems with the picture, highlighting a pattern discrepancy in the queen’s skirt and repetition of Mia Tindall's hair.
Kate Middleton taking part in a photography workshop with the charity Action for Children in Kingston, southwest London, June 25, 2019. (Chris Jackson)
Andersen noted that the Prince and Princess of Wales will need to think fast about how to address the scrutiny that awaits them in April.
"If this whole clandestine business revolving around Kate isn’t put to rest by the time Louis turns 6, then I’m afraid the royal family will look more shambolic than ever," he said. "The bottom line is that people today resent it when public figures – and no one is a more high-profile public figure than Princess Catherine – keep them in the dark."
The princess is known for photographing the official birthday portraits of her children. In 2020, she participated in a project in which she photographed Holocaust survivors with their grandchildren. In 2022, she shot a portrait of Queen Camilla for the British magazine Country Life. She has described herself as an "amateur photographer."
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Kate Middleton has called herself an "amateur photographer." (Eddie Mulholland/WPA Pool)
"The Princess of Wales is a good photographer and has captured four of the five previous birthday photos," royal broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital.
"Despite the photo editing debacle … people still hope that she will continue to delight the public with her photography skills," Chard shared. "My feeling is that each photo opportunity should be assessed. A professional, trusted photographer should be secured for complicated storyboards and images released as news photos. The Princess of Wales should release photos occasionally, especially simply happy photos of her children.
"I realize there is the discussion of trust, but I can assure you, the princess will never release an edited news photo again," Chard added. "Perhaps the wisest decision going forward is for Kensington Palace to secure … professional photographers, apart from personal family moments. The photo agencies will be happy as they have always been disgruntled with the princess taking her own photos. It will give dedicated professional photographers work, and it will end the nasty, negative … photo editing scrutiny."
Prince William has been keeping busy with royal duties. The Prince of Wales attended a Homewards Sheffield Local Coalition meeting at the Millennium Gallery March 19, 2024, in Sheffield, England. (Oli Scarff/WPA Pool)
British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital it made sense for Middleton to photograph her children when they were young to protect them from press scrutiny. But now that they’ve gotten older, it would make sense to get the professionals involved.
"Now would be a perfect time to remove any stress from Kate," said Fordwich. "[This will] avoid the public pressure of either having to deliver a perfect photograph, as well as to remove any accusations of impropriety regarding editing."
But not everyone agrees. Kinsey Schofield, the host of the "To Di For Daily" podcast, told Fox News Digital the princess will follow the royal motto of keeping calm and carrying on.
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From left: Catherine, Princess of Wales; Princess Charlotte of Wales; Prince George of Wales; Prince William, Prince of Wales; and Prince Louis of Wales attend the Christmas morning service at Sandringham Church Dec. 25, 2023, in Sandringham, Norfolk. (Oli Scarff/WPA Pool)
"I suspect that the Princess of Wales will likely take the new photo of Louis," said Schofield. "This is a hobby that she is passionate about. They know it will be under a lot of scrutiny, so they will likely touch it up very little."
"William and Catherine will keep calm and carry on and continue with the queen’s never complain, never explain strategy," Schofield insisted. "The family has survived on that motto, and it seems that every time someone veers away from the agreed upon route … it blows up in their faces."
A friend and adviser of the couple told The Sunday Times Middleton was "devastated" by the uproar over her photo mishap.
Kensington Palace announced the Princess of Wales will return to public duties sometime after Easter. (Arthur Edwards/Pool)
"If you want to call out the mistake, it was Kate not telling her team that she’d done it [edited the photo]," the friend said. "But she came out and said sorry. The photo was a misstep, even with something as innocent as that, you should disclose altering it."
Middleton is expected to return to royal duties sometime in April.
Kensington Palace previously announced that the Princess of Wales is expected to return to public duties sometime after Easter.
Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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