Kate Middleton: her photo in the car retouched? The photographer breaks the silence

On March 10, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared a photo on the occasion of Mother’s Day. In it, we could see Kate Middleton sitting in the middle with her three children around her. A beautiful photo which initially aroused admiration and reassured fans of the future Queen of England regarding her state of health. Missing from the radar since December 2023, Prince George’s mother underwent abdominal surgery last January at the London Clinic. Since then, little information has been communicated to the press and rumors about the princess’s condition have continued to grow… Then, on January 29, 2024, we learned that Kate Middleton had been able to discharged from the hospital to her home in Windsor to continue her recovery. A month later, following numerous speculations, Kensington Palace decided to speak out about the absence of Meghan Markle’s sister-in-law.

“We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales would be away until after Easter.”, it was explained. Enough to silence evil tongues? Absolutely not. And the photo published on Mother’s Day didn’t help matters. Indeed, AFP and other major news agencies decided to unpublish the photo after realizing that it had been “manipulated”. This first official image released since the princess’s operation was examined in detail and it emerged, among other things, that Princess Charlotte’s left hand was misaligned with the sleeve of her vest. Several media were also surprised by the absence of a wedding ring on Kate Middleton’s finger, adding fuel to the fire concerning the rumors of deception by the heir to the British throne.

A new retouched photo of Kate Middleton?

Then, a new photo emerged. That of Prince William sitting in the back of a car with a woman beside him who looks like she is… his wife. The photographer behind this photo has spoken out in the face of accusations of editing or falsification of the photo.

Jim Bennett told the media Hello! that he had not immediately become aware of the presence of Kate Middleton alongside the man she married in 2011. Indeed, the photographer affirms that it was by looking more closely at the image on his computer that he thought he recognized the Princess of Wales when he was only expecting to see Prince George’s father out to attend the Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey in London. “We’re doing a bit of work in Windsor and two publications have asked us to have a first photo of Prince William heading to the service at Westminster Abbey”, he first clarified to our colleagues regarding the context. Jim Bennett photographed the couple sitting in the back of their black Land Rover as they left their cottage.

Asked about the authenticity of his photo, the photographer denied any alteration. “I have been a photographer for over 40 years, this was important to us because we were asked to take a photo of William, which we did, although it was not the best photo“, he first wanted to insist. And to detail: “The photo of William was pretty good, it turns out [Kate] was sitting next to him although we can’t see her clearly, we can see that she is looking away. It was only confirmation from their press service that attested that she was in the vehicle with him.”. Then Jim Bennett assured: “[En tant que photographes]we are not allowed to manipulate the images, except for a little lightening or a little darkening and that’s it”. “Literally change the content? You can’t do that. If you’re a professional you don’t do it, end of story, it’s a rule that’s set for everyone”concluded the photographer.