A distinguished open-source intelligence expert has picked apart a bizarre conspiracy theory claiming that an old Vogue cover of Kate Middleton was utilized in her doctored post-surgery family photo.
Elliot Higgins, the founding father of the Netherlands-based Bellingcat investigative journalism group, demonstrated on X on Monday why it was highly unlikely that the Princess of Wales’ image from the June 2016 issue of British Vogue had been recycled for her viral UK Mother’s Day snap.
“There’s so many minor differences, just like the reflection of the sunshine in her pupils, the sunshine and shadow on her face, the teeth visible, wrinkles, etc. etc., that it’s clearly just a photograph of the identical woman from concerning the same angle, not the identical exact photo,” Higgins explained.
The anti-disinformation blogger added: “It hurts my brain that I even should point this out, I believe I’m going to go bed and hope people turn into more sensible overnight.”
Higgins was responding to a theory first recommend by Ruby Naldrett, a senior social media editor for the UK tabloids the Day by day Mirror and the Day by day Star, who claimed that her “evaluation” of the photo saga has led her to conclude that Kate’s face from the eight-year-old photoshoot had been “edited” into the brand new image showing the princess together with her children.
By Tuesday afternoon, Naldrett’s post has been viewed an astonishing 44 million times.
“Once I first saw this, I assumed it was a parody, but I used to be clearly mistaken,” Higgins said, referring to the conspiracy theory.
On Tuesday, Naldrett appeared to tone down her rhetoric surrounding the photo-tampering claims — at the same time as she called on Kensington Palace to set the record straight.
“I do know numerous people disagree and say it’s normal for somebody to look the identical way, but the images are eight years apart and almost the exact same,” she told the Day by day Star.
“It’s only a theory and it might be flawed, but I believe the one possible way they’ll put a stop to all these theories is by releasing the unique [un]edited image,” she continued.
What was meant to be a sweet photo showing the 42-year-old Kate surrounded by her children for the primary time since her abdominal surgery in January ignited a worldwide firestorm after eagle-eyed fans spotted quite a few Photoshop fails, including Princess Charlotte’s cut-off wrist and her mom’s misaligned zipper.
A few of the world’s leading news agencies, amongst them the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Getty Images, fired off a “kill notice” to media outlets to remove the image over manipulation concerns.
Kate on Monday issued a public apology for the photo fiasco — and admitted she had doctored the image released in honor of the British Mother’s Day on Sunday.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to precise my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” she said in a press release on X from the official Prince and Princess of Wales page.
“I hope everyone celebrating had a really completely satisfied Mother’s Day. C.”