Do the Royal Family just think we are really really stupid?

[Bex5490]

Just that really. From Harry’s car chase to Prince Andrew being at a Pizza Express kid’s party.

And now we’re supposed to believe that the country’s biggest PR machine in the middle of a media storm just let Prince William take a casual Mothers Day pic on his iPhone, let the missus edit it and then post it to the world?

😒

The Guardian posted a much clearer photo closeup and the threads of the friendship bracelet are clearly visible:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/11/the-sleeve-the-hand-the-knee-the-royal-photos-telltale-signs-of-editing

Bang on! People will complain about the government and heating bills, but will line up to gawp at the royals.

There were many opportunities to provide nuanced updates that didn't have to be either telling the entire public to fuck off and ignoring them for 2 months, or releasing a Photoshopped picture of all the children and Kate beaming like she stepped out of a Tatler cover. This really, they did not need to publish a photo and pretend it was taken last week. There was a way to keep the public and press happy while maintaining her health privacy.

It won’t just be a bit of photoshopping to improve the photo though - that’s accepted by the press/standard for that sort of photo. To be ‘killed’ by the press organisations there needs to be serious concerns about the authenticity of the picture. It’s an important principle to maintain the reliability of the news organisation - otherwise AI/photoshopped mash ups of atrocities etc are fair game (it goes both ways for the royal family, if somebody mocked up a photo of William snorting coke off an endangered rhino while a topless Princess Anne cheers on, and a press agency issued it as a legitimate photo you can be sure the royals would intervene pretty swiftly). Think about the fake photos of UK soldiers committing atrocities back when royal buddy Piers Morgan was at the mirror…

I agree it’s much more likely that she’s looking/feeling crap and knows her appearance will be poured over rather than she’s editing out her Brazilian bum lift/dodgy fringe/being in a coma/conspiracy of the hour etc. but it does highlight that the royals are comfortable with lying to the populace who pays for them. They could have easily done a throwback photo to the family at Christmas or a prior royal occasion, or a photo of a Mother’s Day card made by the children etc. What I think people are surprised by are just how badly their PR team are handling the matter which makes people think there must be more too it (it’s not as if they can’t afford to hire decent PR and we know the royal family isn’t shy about using it (including to attack their own)).

I was already a republican but this whole saga has just cemented it. To be honest it seems like the kindest thing for them too. I don’t understand how fans of the royal family can claim to care about the children involved knowing what sort of hellish gilded cage they’re trapped in due to accident of birth. At least Catherine made an active choice to marry in - no such luck for her children.

Well we are when you think about it for allowing the whole institution to continue.

Yes they think we are idiots! They get away with it because we let them.

Exactly this. There's more behind the scenes.

I would say she has had a breakdown. The surgery is a story and the photo is an attempt to make us think she’s ok. If I was her I’d walk away from the whole fiasco. Problem is her son is heir to the throne and the palace will be doing everything in their power to save the marriage

Good lord, this is a shocking thing to write. What’s wrong with people and fhese wild theories.

She"s probably just taken advantage of the opportunity of being out of the public eye to have a nose job or something.

100% yes they do. And only have tonsee it on here, rather bs people have swallowed or will say to keep the perfect image in place

People cannot even accept when some theories are then proven to be true. People don't want to believe there can be a certain level fo deceit, deception or manipulation. Oh no they could never be manipulated could they, they would see right through it and everyone else is a conspiracy theorist or what's wrong with you questioning things how dare you challenge..🙄 and they say other people have drunk the kool aid

I know lots of people online said the photo was heavily edited when it came out and all the royal fans out there were aghast at the suggestion... until several agencies pulled it... and now its, what's wrong with that, we all do it, stop being mean! We may add a filter to an insta pic but not the kind of manipulation that went on here.

Yes they've always thought we are stupid. And they've always treated us as an uneducated mass who's sole purpose is to support them.

I don't care if the photo was edited. I don't care about her wishing us a happy mother's day. It's all tone deaf when the country is on its knees and some cannot celebrate mother's day.

The BBC like other agencies has asked experts to look at the photo. They know when it was saved on a computer for editing and a Digital camera and Canon lens was used. So not a phone. I have attached some of the fact checking piece by the BBC. Read it in full and you can see what manipulation is allowed and what is not. The picture editing is clumsy,

Id be more concerned about where her wedding ring is!

You would have to recover from piles like mountains 🏔️ for five months. 😁

So what? Genuinely cannot see what the furore is about.

The level of interest is terrifying, if I were her I'd be so shocked by it. I naively thought that she could announce she'd be off sick back after Easter. I must be one of the stupid ones. I wouldn't have over analysed that first statement. People saying the photo raises more questions than it answers, that trust is broken now, geez.

For me the furore is about the royal family trying to pass off heavily doctored/artificial photos to legitimate news agencies without any thought or care to how that undermines journalistic integrity (when they’d be the first to complain if fake images that weren’t complimentary were published as ‘real’). The principle of an independent and verifiable press (and to be clear were talking about news agencies not the tabloids and how they may choose to spin a provided image) is important and should not be manipulated by the royal family to maintain a false, picture perfect image. Fake news is a huge issue for democracies worldwide, we’re already living with the very real
consequences, the royal family should not be adding to it.

That's how I feel, I am not interested in them, have never followed all the Meghan and Harry stuff and in fact feel bemused at the intensity of hatred that they engender. Did not watch the Queen's funeral, did not watch the coronation and was grateful for the fact that there is now so much alternative entertainment that is possible to totally avoid anything to do with the royals. But all this Kate stuff has got me intrigued, mainly because of the way it has been so badly handled. It also made me remember when there were so many rumours about the state of Charles and Diana's marriage and it was all denied and of course it turned out to be true. I really think that a republic would be best for us all, best for them so they can go off and live a life of wealthy privilege but in relative obscurity which would be so much better for the new generation, and best for the UK because maybe we can grow up as country.

The bankers create the money not us.

Money is abstracted work, to begin with

Money is just a medium of exchange that requires a belief in it"s "value" for "work" to exist.

Why does anyone care? She released a photo, did a bit of editing, she has asked for privacy. No one has learned anything from Diana. The press are still filled with vitriol and shit stirring.

@Salacia really?? They were recognisably the family. It's an innocuous picture of them. What sinister theories is it meant to indicate?
I mean so what?

Some of the memes being made are brilliant though 😅