Would it have mattered if the picture showed her looking a bit poorly?

[Sparetoes]

Now, firstly I don't think the picture should have been put out at all , and I don't think she should have made that trip in a car without blackend windows. We were told she was having surgery and would be back after Easter and that should have been that.

For some reason they decided to put out the Mother's Day picture and manipulated it. Consensus appears to be that this was more than a minor tweak or two to make sure DC were all smiling at once or that the pimple on her nose wasn't visible. There's been significant work done, around her face.

For me, the interesting story is the way the PR's been handled. I don't understand how or why that picture was ever put out and I can't begin to think what was going through anyone's mind when they sent her out in that car. From a PR POV it has been appallingly badly handled.

However, if they'd decided they needed to put something out and it showed a woman looking a bit puffy (from steroids) or drawn (from pain) but still smiling with her DC, would that have been so terrible?

I understand of course that everyone wants to look their best, but from a PR pov, would it have mattered if an ill woman looked....ill?

It obviously mattered to her.

From the detailed list of pixelating from the released photo, hardly any of it is actually regarding Kate. Yes, she may have had her face touched up a bit but the overwhelming alterations were to do with her children. Getting three young children to look in the right direction, keep their eyes open, be smiling, and generally looking photogenic is very difficult.

If she'd looked unwell even remotely the press would have had an absolute field day

Why? She's off sick. Isn't it almost worse if she doesn't look ill, like when colleagues are living it up on FB whilst off sick?

Wrong. The pixels around her were moved and all the editing is around her face and hands, which were clearly added. There is a lot of media discussion about this, and they also know the copy and paste function was used.

True. But you know what it's like. People picked apart a photo in which she looked aparantly healthy so they'll go nuts with one of her looking unwell. There will be headlines and all sorts.

They didn't pick it apart becuase she looked healthy, they spotted that it was faked. TBH you'd hope someone somewhere would spot that in all news pictures.

Why did she think she needed to show a picture?

For me, it just drives home the point that we, as a society, should not be putting people up on those impossibly high pedestals... "She never puts a foot wrong! She always looks great! She is always so gracious!" Now look what this poor woman is enduring when she really should be focused on her health. She can't just be photographed looking human and not quite her best like the rest of us. I saw someone being interviewed about her situation, and he kept going on and on about how beautiful she always looks, etc. I wished I could tell him that that kind of thinking is exactly the problem!

It would be like when the press and Twitter users picked over the unflattering photo of her on Remembrance Sunday 2023. She was feeling under the weather then I guess, given that Private Eye (a sensible source) claims that she was hospitalised about six weeks later. So, if that particular picture was derided, imagine what would happen to an unflattering picture released at the height of the #whereiskate hoopla. The poor woman, her appearance scrutinised to the nth degree.

Is it the same, a picture of a woman we've been told is ill, looking ill?

I agree it's not OK the way women have their appearance picked over, but mostly it's the ones who put a lot of effort into their appearance. Ordinary looking women don't get this, even if they are high profile.

I wouldn’t have card but some would. As evidenced with people going crazy over the photo they did put out.
I can’t wait to see her, head up, big smile sashaying down the hill to church on Easter Sunday.

I was thinking this same thing. Most female politicians, diplomats and state leaders are not put on a pedestal for looking beautiful and they genuinely don't seem to care that much about vanity. I double Angela Merkel gave a crap about face lifts or plastic surgery. Maybe it's one of the prerequisites of the job...to just not give a fuck at some point? Surely if your chosen life career is becoming a public figure, you must be self-aware enough to have a contingency plan of what to do in the event you gain some weight, become ill, start aging or end up with life-changing injuries? These are all things that could happen, and statistically do happen, to every single person. If your work involves heavy public scrutiny, then it benefits your own mental health to have some sort of strategy or therapeutic plan on how to deal with that.

Some celebrities have "owned" their health conditions and openly disclose that so they do not have to face the speculation and pressure. Selena Gomez, Selma Blair, Angelina Jolie, just to name a few. This seems like a healthier way of dealing with it, in light of the fact you cannot escape the scrutiny. The problem with all the "give her privacy" is that there IS no privacy once you reach a certain level of fame. You can only employ PR and comms to sway public opinion by releasing bits and pieces of information that the public might want and expect to see. KP clearly fucked all of that up on a monumental scale.

As mentioned in another thread, the whole disaster was because the image seems to have misrepresented a state leader and was designed to be distributed via British state media (BBC). AP themselves have said the only examples of kill orders in the past were issued on images from the North Korean government. It's very sad if vanity was the only reason that led to this.

I looked at the picture and the list of things that were edited. I’m wondering why things like Charlotte’s skirt or knee needed altering? Or George’s sleeve for example? Am I missing something? Why would you need to do that?
She would have been better off sticking up a picture of them all in bed in their pyjamas with homemade Mother’s Day cards and a cup of tea in her hand.

Lying about when the photo was taken and sending it to picture agencies instead of sticking it on Instagram were their big mistakes. Posting an old (2023 or earlier) photo would still have the conspiracy theorists frothing but it would have made the list of questions and inconsistencies shorter.
Before the photo I believed that Kate had abdominal surgery and would be back after Easter but now I don’t believe that at all. I’m sceptical about the statement that she edited the photo and hope that she’s not been thrown under the bus to distract from something else like the King’s health.

I actually think a photo of her looking ill in some way could have been great PR. She's always been the darling of the royal family (justifiably as she's done a very good job of remaining beyond criticism, even though her job shouldn't exist), and now she could be Brave Kate.

But she doesn't want to share her medical info, and that's fine. I think she's always drawn this line in the sand, it just hasn't been an issue til now. We don't know if she breastfed, for example, or what surgery she had as a child resulting in the scar on her head. She may have had a chronic condition for years and there's never been as much as a whisper. She has decided her medical info isn't for public consumption and that's reasonable and sensible. Good for her.

Of course, she's also spent well over a decade now being photographed every time she steps out, everything she wears is analysed, her choosing to wear a dress or jumper can make an up and coming designer. If she doesn't want to be photographed because she's self conscious, then that's really sad but also very understandable.

But they never should have faked the photo.

They’re all old enough to be able to smile at a camera on demand or with some bribery. Her youngest is about 5 isn’t he?!

@CapybaraBara It's very sad if vanity was the only reason that led to this.

Agree! I’m unsure where the blame lies with this but had K built a role which focused on work rather than style and beauty, we would not be in this situation. It’s a poor state of affairs where the focus is on how she looks rather than what she does. The RF have a huge amount of support so they don’t have to attend to the minutiae of daily living. This should enable them to focus on their work and do some really great things which raise awareness and make a difference but no, instead we are possibly in a situation where someone doesn’t want to be seen in public because they don’t look quite the same as they did.

The RF have lost credibility. Their desperation to be current and admired (for all the wrong reasons) has led them down this ridiculous vain and shallow path.

She looks poorly in that picture. Who has arms that long to stretch around those 2 children?

The press and public rip famous people apart for looking slightly less than prefect.

I was very ill recently and looked absolutely horrific, I didn't even look like myself at all.

I wouldn't have wanted anyone taking photos of me. I can't imagine being in that state and having a photo released to the whole world and then watching it be heavily crititsed for how I looked.

Sometimes we seem to forget that these famous people are human beings with feelings.

That’s untrue, from the pixel compression her face is the heaviest edited. Second up is the kids hands.

She looks the picture of health, which is the whole point of it,😂

I don’t think that will be this Easter Sunday sadly,

Those long arms are not healthy. I'd worry if I met her and her arms were that long.

She didn't take or edit those pictures.

was thinking this same thing. Most female politicians, diplomats and state leaders are not put on a pedestal for looking beautiful and they genuinely don't seem to care that much about vanity.

That's because their jobs are running the country/ something of consequence and substance. Being a Princess, no matter how much they dress it up as something important, just isn't. Kates job is to look nice in photos. The Royals have done this to her and she's complied.