Kate Middleton's 'Minor Adjustments' to Her Mother’s Day Photo Fuels 'Wild Speculation' About Her Health

Kate Middleton continues to be a trending topic on social media after the Princess of Wales returned to Instagram using an edited image. Although the snapshot quickly led to the Princess of Wales and The Firm receiving criticism, biographer Katie Nicholl hinted at the public creating inappropriate assertions about Kate's health.

"We've gotten used to the princess releasing pictures that she's taken herself, often of her children. It is a very modern way of royal photography," Nicholl told an outlet. "On this occasion, it was the Prince of Wales who took the photograph."

"In this day and age, it's probably quite normal for all photographs to be photoshopped," she continued. "You wouldn't put a magazine cover story out without photoshopping and airbrushing that image, usually."

Kate and Prince William are often praised for bringing the millennial perspective to the royal fold, and in the age of social media, it's common for people to use apps to refine their content.

"My sources at Kensington Palace say that these were minor adjustments, and I think that's a really important detail here," Nicholl said. "We're not talking about superimposing the Princess of Wales into an image because she wasn't well enough to be there. And that's some of the wild speculation that is flying around on the internet at the moment."

"I suppose the real question here is how much digital enhancement was done on this photograph and keen-eyed observers have noticed some unusual things," Nicholl admitted. "Not least the fact that the tree behind them is in full bloom."

"Well, the trees that I'm looking at here in London — and it's a pretty cold winter that's still going on — don't have any leaves on them, and that's got people wondering," she added.

Some experts think Kate returned to social media to put an end to the assumptions being made about her health, but the mishap only made it worse.

"So there are definitely things that people have been reading into this photograph," Nicholl said.

Aside from fans being surprised by the picture, several reputable news agencies revealed that they were removing it from their websites.

"What's been unusual in this is that four major picture agencies pulled this photograph late last night, two more followed this morning, because they believed that they had been digitally manipulated and the extent to which wasn't quite sure," the writer shared. "That's why the picture agencies were wanting clarification."

Kate was remorseful about the confusion her snapshot caused, but the couple haven't removed it from their Instagram account.

"The explanation has been made. An apology has been offered for any confusion, and I think you will notice that the photograph is still on the couple's social media channel. They've not chosen to take it down," Nicholl said. "The fact that Catherine has apologized for any confusion caused should hopefully put an end to [the controversy.] I think that's certainly the hope at the Palace."

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The palace has been protective of Kate's privacy, but some of the assertions about the mom-of-three are baseless.

"I think that it will also bring an end to these pretty wild and outlandish rumors about Kate's health," Nicholl continued. "Some of the more crazy rumors out there [include] that she's been in a coma and therefore wouldn't possibly be well enough to be in an intimate family picture like this... [or] there is a theory that this was an image of Kate's face that was superimposed from an old Vogue shoot."

"I think any sort of digital enhancement on that level would probably be far beyond Catherine's capabilities, to be perfectly honest," Nicholl added. "And the fact that it looks like a bit of a botched job shows you that it was an amateur that was doing this, and that's what she said. She's an amateur photographer who sometimes plays around with digital enhancement — and that's what's happened here."

Nicholl spoke to Entertainment Tonight.