The King of the Netherlands Weighs in on Kate Middleton's Photo Editing

Author: Kase Wickman

Discussions are buzzing all around the world surrounding Kate Middleton's Mother's Day photo editing scandal, including comments from international royals.

Dutch monarch, King Willem-Alexander, did not refrain from joining the conversation. This Tuesday, a recorded video, which was later uploaded to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), shows the king humorously commenting on the situation.

The video captures the 56-year-old king meeting a crowd of children wearing paper-made crowns. One child pointed out, “a photo with your whole family,” to which Willem-Alexander humorously responded, based on English translations from Dutch royal correspondent Rick Evers, “Really? That was not Photoshopped, apparently!”

It is interesting to imagine the silence that must have followed in the virtual international royals group conversation, which is likely filled with countless messages. Kings, isn't it time to get things started?

Concerns and speculations continue to pile up about the Duchess of Cambridge, who has been absent from the public eye since Christmas Day. An official statement from Kensington Palace in January explained that she had a “planned abdominal surgery” and will be privately recovering until Easter. Last week, Kensington Palace posted an image of Middleton with her three children to celebrate the UK’s Mother’s Day. The caption suggested the photo was taken by Prince William himself this year. However, several news services withdrew the image soon after it was published, citing evidence of manipulation, after which Middleton apologized via social media, signing “C.”

The message posted on Monday reads, “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. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”

While Middleton's expected return on Easter is not for a few weeks, the speculation keeps growing. Piers Morgan, a well-known British news personality, contributed to the speculation in an interview with OK! Magazine on Thursday, hinting that “it could be that they’re [the palace] hiding something.”

He raised the question, “Why is Princess Catherine, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, spending time hunched over Photoshop, making amateur edits of official portraits when they literally have servants to do that?” He also questioned, “Most baffling of all, why not edit in the missing wedding ring?

He admitted, “I've been told some stuff that, if even half of it is true, it's pretty alarming what is happening. I don't know what to believe, nor do any of us—we're not there.”