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As conspiracies rage about the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, a digitally altered image posted to social media from an official British Royal Family account has sent the rumour mill into overdrive.
Hours after the picture was published on Sunday, several large news wire services including the Associated Press (AP), Agence France Presse (AFP), Getty Images, the Press Association (PA) and Reuters instructed clients to remove it because it had been digitally manipulated.
Even to the untrained eye, certain elements of the digitally altered photograph did not add up. The subsequent instruction to kill all news stories featuring this image only added fuel to the fire for conspiracists who believe Prince William’s wife is being kept from the public.
However, this drama was soon cleared up by an official statement from Middleton herself, she said: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.
The Princess of Wales, who’s real name is Catherine with a C, apologised for “experimenting with editing” after Kensington Palace released a digitally altered photo to mark Mother’s Day.
“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”
However, the Royals have confirmed today that an impressive fingerboarding manoeuvre that featured in the bottom left corner of this image was in fact not digitally altered.
In yet another official statement regarding this cursed image, A spokesperson for the Royals said “Prince Louis, the third and youngest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, has always been a keen hobbyist.”
“Of late, he has become fascinated with the Tech Deck, a scaled-down replica of a skateboard that a person “rides” with their fingers, rather than their feet, while attempting to emulate the same tricks as one would with their feet”
“We can confirm that this particular manoeuvre, which the Prince has labelled a ‘360 Shove-It’ was not photoshopped”
“As grandson of King Charles III, Prince Louis is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne – but the family acknowledge his impressive talents with the Tech Deck are purely a result of practice and work ethic rarely seen from the Heirs, or the spares”
