King of Netherlands Mocks Kate Middleton for Photo Scandal as 'Where's Kate?' Continues: 'At Least I Didn't Photoshop It'

Did King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands take a shot at Kate Middleton?

On Tuesday, March 12, a clip was posted online that showed the 56-year-old speaking with a group of children during a royal engagement in Zutphen — and during the chat, he made a joke about the Princess of Wales’ recent Photoshop failure.

When a young girl asked about a snap of the King and his family, he seemingly shaded Kate by laughing and saying, "At least I didn't Photoshop it."

As OK! previously reported, after Kate uploaded an image of herself, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, for Mother’s Day in the U.K., people began to speculate the post was edited.

“Ummmmm, this photo looks doctored… Catherine’s right hand around Louis is entirely blurry but the left hand around Charlotte at the same distance to the camer, is not,” one person wrote on social media at the time, while another added, “Am I the only one who thinks it looks shady? Kate’s head looks like it was photoshopped in this.”

Just hours later, the snap was recalled by multiple photo agencies, including Reuters, the Associated Press, Getty Images and AFP.

"At closer inspection, it appears that the source has manipulated the image," a "kill notification" read.

Kate then owned up to the mistake in a bizarre social media message.

"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," the royal, 42, wrote via X, formerly known as Twitter.

The incident comes as the mother-of-three has not made a public appearance since December 2023 and reportedly underwent a “planned abdominal surgery” in January.

The Palace released a statement that she was in recovery and will return to her duties after Easter, however, Kate’s absence has stirred up quite the response, as people around the world speculate there is something bigger at work.

As The Royal Observer previously reported, former butler Grant Harrold gave an inside perspective on the most recent royal scandal.

“Of course, it does cause concern because everybody is over-analyzing it at the moment, and everybody is worried about her and is looking to see for any kind of signs,” Harrold explained. “If it hadn’t been for her taking this time out, the photo editing really wouldn’t have been much of a story."

“It would’ve been a case of simply acknowledging that they’ve edited the photo a bit and then it would be over and done with,” he added.

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“I think because some people are convinced there is something going on behind the scenes, something as little as editing a photo has become a big thing,” he continued. “I’m hoping that as she returns to duties and as things calm down, if there is any future editing, people won’t analyze it to the extent they have done just now.”

“She’s recovering, she’s taking time out and she’s done this family photograph, and for whatever reason, she’s obviously wanted to edit some of it, and I suppose that is a personal choice,” Harrold concluded.