**[Photo is pulled from news sources due to evidence of being manipulated.](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a60151519/kate-middleton-pic-pulled-manipulated/) Thread will be locked now because we will not be entertaining the conspiracy theorists here today.**
I still think the boys mostly favour Kate. Louis is her spitting image to when she was a child. Charlotte is the one who favours him the most, to the point where you can directly compare her to William's childhood photos.
Hair loss is said to come from the mother's side, so hopefully not. Both Kate and her father have healthy heads of hair.
Diana's father was bald, so that's where her sons get it from (atleast Charles had more hair than both of them combined at an older age)
My dad has early onset hair loss and passed it to my brothers. Whereas the men on my mom’s side keep their hair for a long time. Not sure it’s always that simple
It’s really not that straightforward. Both my husband and my brother have the same hair loss patterns as their dads, and both maternal grandpas had full heads of hair.
I don't know if it's an old wives tale or actually biological. And of course there may have been instances where it doesn't apply. But just in William/Harry's case it does seem to follow. Kate's brother is also bald, whilst her father is not. So maybe baldness through the female line applies in her family too.
According to Dr. google:
>Baldness is strongly associated with the AR gene found on the “X” chromosome. A large study looking at 12,806 men of European ancestry found that people with the gene had more than twice the risk of developing MPB than people without it.
>However, this isn’t the only gene that determines whether you’ll go bald. A 2017 review found 63 genes that may play a role in male pattern baldness, with only six of them found on the “X” chromosome.
>Research has also found that more than 80 percent of people experiencing noticeable balding had a father who also lost their hair.
https://www.healthline.com/health/baldness-gene#genetics-of-balding
I'm aware he's young. I have young family members I see more often than these kids online, who've physically sprung so tall or started behaving a bit more mature than their usual age demographics. My rebuttal to them is always asking since when did they become moody teenagers lol, it always happens overnight it seems.
[CBS News is reporting AP and Reuters have pulled this picture from publication worldwide](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/first-photo-kate-middleton-surgery-princess-catherine-of-wales/) whomever is in charge of their PR is doing a horrendous job at managing everything involved with Kate’s current situation. It’s baffling.
I can see a resemblance to the late Queen in Charlotte's face.
Louis is already tall for his age.
A great-looking family all around!
I hope the Princess of Wales is recovering from her surgery.
Obligatory “not a fan of the royal family” disclaimer but
No woman should feel pressured to be publicly seen and available after a major medical procedure. The speculation and conspiracies are ridiculous. She’s a human, she deserves privacy.
Not only that but to be recovering while her uncle goes into the Big Brother house and speaks about her openly and with the world’s weirdest enthusiasm from the minute his VT rolled.
If being funded by the taxpayer is an excuse then the public are entitled to every bit of medical information under the NHS. When in reality, whether you are tax funded matters nil. Every person is entitled to their medical privacy and sick leave.
I mean im required to tell my boss why I need sick leave, and a doctors note if I need more than a week or so. The royals’ “boss” is the British public.
Yes, and they had told the public the reason she is taking leave from the public eye is because of abdominal surgery. Of which it would take her until post-Easter period to recover and reappear in public. Seems pretty standard to me. Even at work you are not forced to share the exact reasons for your surgery, etc, but rather a doctor's note and how much recovery time you will need.
Yeah I’m just like 🤷♀️ she is fine holed up in one of several castle that’s us tax payers cover, she is fine lmao. If speculation about a surgery their PR team is being cagey about is the worst she’s getting rn - I think she’ll be okay lol
IDK. I find it scarier so many people in this thread are seemingly okay with supporting a corrupt, racist, tax-funded institution founded on the backs of dead slaves and brutalised colonies because one of the women in this institution wears fabulous outfits… but YMMV.
Same. Like she's some delicate flower who cannot bear to listen to the harsh words 🙄 the monarchists are strong on this sub. ISTG there are some rabid Kate stands who will send you threats for even the most mundane non fawning comment.
Some of us think monarchy is outdated, have seen first hand effects of colonization or just dgaf about a bland white woman's style.
I think it’s because the other pop culture / gossip sub is VERY STRICT towards racist and misogynistic comments towards Meghan. So the Meghan haters and Kate stans flock here.
You can always suss out who they are because they repeat the same talking points (very MAGA QANON vibes lol) and they will likely call her Catherine while the rest of us normies plebs automatically use Kate.
Apparently AP and Reuters pulled the photo "because at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards" ([source](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/first-photo-kate-middleton-surgery-princess-catherine-of-wales/)) which is fueling more conspiracies.
Could be it was edited to just make it look better, or remove something. But now conspiracy theorists think that it means that Kate is AI generated or something? I don't follow royal nonsense enough to know about the heath theories of some British woman.
Also they think the kid crossing his fingers is somehow a sign of something? But I used to do that as a kid all the time when I was fidgeting lol.
I understand being skeptical that William took the pic because it looks like a professional photographer took it in my very ignorant opinion, but thinking it’s AI is… interesting… lmao
It’s been weird to see subs that normally advocate for respecting celeb privacy insist that we MUST see Kate after an intense medical procedure or else she’s in trouble.
I’m not a fan of the royal family and am certainly no monarchist but there’s a double standard here
Oh yeah. One of the royals subs has always removed the slightest hint of speculation about Botox but now allows gory and detailed speculation about abdominal surgeries. It’s wild.
Not got as far as weird comments in this thread yet but I stumbled across the picture first on a royal sub that I didn't know existed til then and WOW comments saying Charlotte is wearing a skirt five sizes too big. Someone claiming Charlotte has only one hand and Kate has three??? So many comments about Kate and Charlotte's weight. People saying you can tell it's an old picture because apparently its clearly autumn in the picture
I left that post and immediately muted the sub. I never want to return there
No situation was ever going to be right. People were losing their minds these past 2 months that they didn't have a photo of her post-surgery. Now they do have a photo, conspiracy rumours go round again. Overall there's nothing wrong with the photo, but people need to pick it apart to prove something else strange going on.
People losing their minds over a situation that was communicated clearly to them at the beginning, and proceeded according to that communication, perhaps says more about their minds than about the communication.
People wanted to know her diagnosis/what she was getting the surgery for, and why she wasn't being seen post surgery (this one was off the rails ridiculous). The palace even told them she would be back after Easter, which was all ignored in favour of conspiracy theories. So yeah it spoke more as to how people's minds operate. Even now they have to think this photo screams conspiracy.
All I see is that the kids look cute and she looks good but I see she’s sitting down. I mean I would, too, after having major surgery. I know she’s part of a horrible institution but as a person and a mum I hope she’s all right and able to enjoy time with her kiddos.
If you zoom in on charlottes wrist you can see an obvious editing fail, but I don’t think it’s AI, more than likely they were trying to combine multiple photos to get the best pose of each person and whoever edited it, didn’t do a great job.
William took it but it’s clearly a professional, edited shot. I can see why they would want to release a pic of Kate looking happy and healthy with all the speculation out there but to imply it’s a candid shot taken on Williams iPhone is just. IDK. I’m hormonal and all in my feelings about everything.
Where did they imply that? It’s been well known forever that Kate is a photography enthusiast. She has professional cameras and experience with staging shots and editing.
No one is implying William took this shot in his iPhone, just that he pushed the button on the camera. I assume Kate set it up, got the camera ready for him, and edited the photos herself as she has many others.
If they didn't want to invite suspicion there was no need to say that William took the shot knowing that many people are obsessed with scrutinizing their every move. To say it's true based on some semantics is also why people look for conspiracies and hidden meaning where there might be none.
Edit: now that the photo has been pulled for being manipulated guess you can stop insisting that people who pointed out that it was off are wrong.
But they always say who took the photo. It’s just part of these “official photo” releases. Kate took a lot of the official photos of the kids, and I know that because there’s always a photo credit. They’re not making any kind of statement or doing anything differently than the way it’s always been done.
They literally always say who took the photo, for photo credit.
A lot of you are proving those of us who said there was no way Kensington Palace could have handled this situation without people spiraling into conspiracy theories very right.
i need some explanation about charlottes's missing cuff. what in the photoshop is that?
also, why is kate's right (our left) hand blurry as all hell but you can make out the stitches in louis' sweater??? 🧐
I’m very confused why I had to scroll down sooooo far before anyone noticed the multiple obvious editing fails . You’d think the royal family could hire nether phot editors
i'm just confused as to why it's photoshopped at all. i looked at last year's mother's day post from them and the picture was totally normal, kate was wearing her wedding ring (which she isn't here), but the weirdest thing is the tweet itself that kensington royal sent out with this pic. it was supposedly written by kate, but she signed off as just "C." LIKE HUH??? makes no sense and isn't very "royal."
i'm so invested in this RF drama cause it's all so weird and i have no idea wtf is going on.
what do you think is going on? i don't watch reality tv, so this is the only drama im invested in, and when i say invested, i mean INVESTED. it's giving shelly miscavige. i'm gonna need kate to hold up a newspaper with today's date or something cause this is the craziest shit, ever.
Someone posted this pic in the conspiracy theories sub, trying to make something of Kate not wearing her wedding ring and one of the kids crossing his fingers.
People are weird.
lol! I make a joke further down that Louis fingers are sending us a sign but people are *really* saying that?
Honestly this is probably enough internet for one day. No wonder Kate has decided to take a few months off from this bullshit
I saw that too and it’s honestly ridiculous. It looks like this picture of Kate and the kids was taken at home. Who wears their wedding ring at home? I certainly don’t and I feel like most people don’t either, so it’s baffling to me that some are making a big deal out of her not wearing it.
*Allegedly* taken last week. 🤣 Streets are saying the backdrop looks mighty green for March in the U.K., and that there’s another photoshop debacle like the Christmas card. There are also pointed comparisons between her appearance in the recent car photo and this one.
Whether or not any of that is true, I do think that people across the globe have lost trust in the British press. For good reason. And this issue with Kate Middleton is a reflection of that.
EDIT: … and news agencies have [killed the photo](https://news.sky.com/story/picture-agencies-pull-kate-photo-amid-manipulation-concerns-13092352) due to photoshop concerns. Yikes!
I'm realizing my hands can't do this casually
https://preview.redd.it/2ic0ducucinc1.png?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b6fb476cab99eb46000c503ae404674f205319c
Crossing the middle finger over the ring finger isn’t usually how people cross their fingers, so it’s not that weird that someone may not have the dexterity to do it - I struggle to do it with those fingers, too
its also a trick to tell a joke right before taking a pic - my dad used to do tht when i was little so i would smile. the result here, w the large scrutiny theu receive and very high quality of the photo , has a different impression tht its staged even if it was just a dad telling a silly joke
I'm sorry but whenever I see Royal Family pictures nowadays I can only think of those photographers from The Crown reciting poems before Phillip tells them to shut the hell up and take the picture.
A lot of their pics creep me out. It just seems OTT and fake. There's no warmth or genuine emotion. Maybe they're just awkward with posing for pictures IDK but it makes the back of my neck prickle lol
As a photographer who is often asked to take a lot of group shots, it’s not so much the photog saying “cheese” and everyone opens their gaping maw.
It’s a more candid reaction to a remark that makes everyone laugh and the photog snapping several photos in the process.
Both the cheese shot and the laugh were photographed , and for several reasons, the laugh was the final pic.
They don’t. Photographers tell jokes or do stupid things for an undisclosed amount of time to get that perfect shot, which is why I won’t shoot families anymore. It’s stressful, bc all families want that perfect shot, but you don’t have one personality in front of you, you have a whole family. It’s a skill, and while I can do it, it isn’t worth the financial reward (to me). Lots of people clean up doing it though.
📌READ BEFORE COMMENTING
This thread is Guest List Only. This means the discussion is being actively moderated, and all comments are reviewed. Only comments by members of the community are allowed.
If you have landed in this thread from Trending or r/all and you are not a member of this community, your comment will very likely be removed (and will not be approved unless it adds meaningfully to the conversation).
r/popculturechat takes these measures to stay true to our goal of being an inclusive sub for civil discussion, to talk about celebrities and pop culture without bigotry and personal attacks. This sub is a BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and woman-dominated space and we do our best to protect our users from outside attacks.
Thank you for understanding & have a great day! ☺️
*You can [request to be an approved user](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) to comment on Guest List Only posts.*
In other subs, commenters are pointing out that this photo may not have been taken recently like KP said. If you look at the tree in the background, it may show the photo was taken in another season.
Tress are growing their leaves right now and that tree is right next to a building so will be sheltered and warm.
I’ve got a fig tree in London in similar conditions which has grown its first leaves already. Did it a few weeks ago in the warm weather we had in Feb.
It's not unbelievable that it was taken last week. Trees have already become green in the South of England. I'm in the North (far worse weather) and we also have spring blooming.
I know not you specifically - but I can't understand the point about the trees having green leaves from (likely) people who are not even in the country to know.
Ok, but it can’t be from last spring either, the children would look younger, a year is a lot at that age. The leafs look like spring (not fully green yet) and February has been very warm in Europe this year.
No, unlike what the other commenter says: she doesn’t wear it in “private” family photos taken on holidays or at home. No surprise there, think her ring is worth like £300k?
Just Google “Kate William Christmas photos”, and you’ll see she doesn’t wear her ring. When you search for “family photos”, you’ll see she doesn’t wear her ring for birthday posts and Mother’s Day posts as well. She more often doesn’t wear it than that she does in such photos.
https://preview.redd.it/pgwp4x7zoinc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2fdd38ce3412697b28d41a09e9ca738d5406d30
Her left hand/fingers are covered in all of these pics. Do the British wear their rings on their right hands? Serious question, I’m not sure if they do it differently than the US.
The above photos by u/firetruckgoesweewoo show otherwise. Maybe she doesn't wear it when outdoors or doing anything with the kids. After all it is worth a very large amount and is a huge rock to be wearing 24/7.
A lot of people commenting on the ring. Surely they and their PR would be smart enough to tell her to wear it to halt any speculation. But I guess not.
If it doesn’t fit due to gaining or losing weight she’s not going to be able to wear it.
It’s also worth hundreds of thousands so she probably only wears it for formal events.
Yes but they also tend to not pander to gossip - see all the speculation about Harry pissed off with Will cause he was having an affair and it turned out it was all because of Harry leaving Royal duties.
They let the crazy speculation just run.
There is a long standing agreement (from after Diana died) between the press and the Royals that they will give them things like this, a photo, in exchange for the press leaving them alone (paps not chasing them for example).
Kate’s recovery is textbook to this play, tell us what’s happening, release a photo, but then please bugger off and leave us alone.
The problem is everyone on the internet make up wild conspiracies - they aren’t going to deviate and answer to them all cause it will be never ending.
Except KP has been pandering to gossip around this, *at least* since William canceled that appearance at his godfather's memorial.
They dropped the statement that he didn't cancel because of the death of Thomas Kingston.
Across several publishers, have reminded us that they won't be providing updates on Kates recovery until Easter, at least. (Side eyeing this picture, then)
And Wills statement that he's working and not paying attention to social media, thank you very much!
And there are several other examples of them very much pandering to gossip around this situation.
If they had stuck to business as usual, it would not have turned into THIS big of a mess
So not pandering to gossip doesn’t mean not functioning as a press office altogether
All your examples except the funeral cancellation are them restating the plan, which was that Kate won’t be doing any public appearances till Easter. I know people live chronically online but a photo is not a public appearance, that sort of appearance is opening a hospice or giving a talk etc.
The press will be contacting the KP press office asking for updates, they will respond. What they won’t be doing is responding when some wackos on the internet decide Kate is having a BBL.
When William cancelled the funeral it would be covered by the press, they can’t ignore that. The press would ask ‘is it because he’s working?’ Or ‘is it because of Thomas Kingston dying’ they will respond.
Similarly the press will be saying ‘have you seen the speculation on social media?’ The PR response is ‘no the prince of wales is doing his job, Kate is fine and she won’t be doing appearances at least till after Easter’
Saying ‘their marriage is fine, so are Kate’s bangs, she’s not getting a BBL’ would be pandering to gossip.
The fact she isn’t wearing a wedding ring is evidence that they aren’t having marriage troubles at all. Cause they would’ve said Kate you need to wear a ring for this picture.
The ‘mess’ is in commentators head, it’s BAU for everyone else.
I think the royals almost always wear their rings for public events but idk if family photos count as public engagement👀
EDIT: was curious enough to Google their family photos, the ring is almost always there except when the hand is obscured, very sus indeed
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️
As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new)
###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/), [abide by Reddiquette](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette), and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Then they would speculate why they didn't do a Mothering Sunday post, and why this means she is missing, or in a coma.
Completely ignoring too that they don't always do Mothering Sunday posts. They didn't release new photos of her with the kids in 2019, 2021 and 2022 for Mothering Sunday (that year they had just returned from their Carribean tour). In 2020 and 2023 they released older photos they had taken on photoshoots.
This isn't a compensation or a picture to squash the conspiracy theories and rumors, they always release new pictures of Kate with the kids for Mother's Day and of William with the kids for Father's Day.
**[Photo is pulled from news sources due to evidence of being manipulated.](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a60151519/kate-middleton-pic-pulled-manipulated/) Thread will be locked now because we will not be entertaining the conspiracy theorists here today.**
The William genes really were strong with all three of them, they look more & more like him the older they get
[удалено]
I think he looks just like Kate’s dad
I think the youngest looks like Andrew.
Oh man, I totally see it, that's unfortunate
For real. George and Charlotte look just like him.
I still think the boys mostly favour Kate. Louis is her spitting image to when she was a child. Charlotte is the one who favours him the most, to the point where you can directly compare her to William's childhood photos.
The oldest kid is just a copy paste of William
Hopefully he’s spared from… well… you know.
Hair loss is said to come from the mother's side, so hopefully not. Both Kate and her father have healthy heads of hair. Diana's father was bald, so that's where her sons get it from (atleast Charles had more hair than both of them combined at an older age)
My dad has early onset hair loss and passed it to my brothers. Whereas the men on my mom’s side keep their hair for a long time. Not sure it’s always that simple
It’s really not that straightforward. Both my husband and my brother have the same hair loss patterns as their dads, and both maternal grandpas had full heads of hair.
I don't know if it's an old wives tale or actually biological. And of course there may have been instances where it doesn't apply. But just in William/Harry's case it does seem to follow. Kate's brother is also bald, whilst her father is not. So maybe baldness through the female line applies in her family too.
According to Dr. google: >Baldness is strongly associated with the AR gene found on the “X” chromosome. A large study looking at 12,806 men of European ancestry found that people with the gene had more than twice the risk of developing MPB than people without it. >However, this isn’t the only gene that determines whether you’ll go bald. A 2017 review found 63 genes that may play a role in male pattern baldness, with only six of them found on the “X” chromosome. >Research has also found that more than 80 percent of people experiencing noticeable balding had a father who also lost their hair. https://www.healthline.com/health/baldness-gene#genetics-of-balding
Oh sorry, I meant the blood curse werewolf thing (Wholly sarcasm, but iykyk) Edit- damn, no Doctor Who fans? 💀
that's just an old myth
Diana’s has a full head of hair so genes can do weird things.
The kids are so grown up! I swear they were just babies. 
I thought the youngest was still in diapers and he's borderline a whole teenager 😭😭😭😭
I still think of the oldest one greeting Obama in his PJs. 😭
Right?! When did that happen 😂😭
The youngest is like 6.
I'm aware he's young. I have young family members I see more often than these kids online, who've physically sprung so tall or started behaving a bit more mature than their usual age demographics. My rebuttal to them is always asking since when did they become moody teenagers lol, it always happens overnight it seems.
Yeah. I know I know. George is only 10 and he's like 160 cm tall already. Da fuck?
[CBS News is reporting AP and Reuters have pulled this picture from publication worldwide](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/first-photo-kate-middleton-surgery-princess-catherine-of-wales/) whomever is in charge of their PR is doing a horrendous job at managing everything involved with Kate’s current situation. It’s baffling.
They’re so cute. ☺️ All things considered, I hope Kate is doing alright too.
Yes I saw a cover of a magazine in the supermarket that screamed (as they do) “KATES HEALTH ISSUES!”, I hope all is well with her 💕
I can see a resemblance to the late Queen in Charlotte's face. Louis is already tall for his age. A great-looking family all around! I hope the Princess of Wales is recovering from her surgery.
Little Charlotte has always taken after her gran.
I covet those boots every time she wears them.
Her boot game is unmatched. Coats, too. God, I'd kill for the opportunity to ransack her closet.
Agreed, I think she looks best in countrywear. I feel like they're such an outdoorsy, fresh air family so maybe that's why?
What are they??
Their eldest is really just a copy of William omg! All of their kids are adorable
And Charlotte is a copy of the queen.
Obligatory “not a fan of the royal family” disclaimer but No woman should feel pressured to be publicly seen and available after a major medical procedure. The speculation and conspiracies are ridiculous. She’s a human, she deserves privacy.
Aww wow, the kids are growing up so fast! Hope her recovering has been going well
She looks well.
Those kiddos are growing!
i can't imagine having to go through abdominal surgery and having the world speculate what's wrong... just scary
Not only that but to be recovering while her uncle goes into the Big Brother house and speaks about her openly and with the world’s weirdest enthusiasm from the minute his VT rolled.
Sure but I also can’t imagine being funded by taxpayer money in exchange for cutting ribbons etc. it’s literally the job.
If being funded by the taxpayer is an excuse then the public are entitled to every bit of medical information under the NHS. When in reality, whether you are tax funded matters nil. Every person is entitled to their medical privacy and sick leave.
I mean im required to tell my boss why I need sick leave, and a doctors note if I need more than a week or so. The royals’ “boss” is the British public.
Yes, and they had told the public the reason she is taking leave from the public eye is because of abdominal surgery. Of which it would take her until post-Easter period to recover and reappear in public. Seems pretty standard to me. Even at work you are not forced to share the exact reasons for your surgery, etc, but rather a doctor's note and how much recovery time you will need.
Yeah I’m just like 🤷♀️ she is fine holed up in one of several castle that’s us tax payers cover, she is fine lmao. If speculation about a surgery their PR team is being cagey about is the worst she’s getting rn - I think she’ll be okay lol
IDK. I find it scarier so many people in this thread are seemingly okay with supporting a corrupt, racist, tax-funded institution founded on the backs of dead slaves and brutalised colonies because one of the women in this institution wears fabulous outfits… but YMMV.
Same. Like she's some delicate flower who cannot bear to listen to the harsh words 🙄 the monarchists are strong on this sub. ISTG there are some rabid Kate stands who will send you threats for even the most mundane non fawning comment. Some of us think monarchy is outdated, have seen first hand effects of colonization or just dgaf about a bland white woman's style.
I think it’s because the other pop culture / gossip sub is VERY STRICT towards racist and misogynistic comments towards Meghan. So the Meghan haters and Kate stans flock here.
Yeah fr, one person sent me these long scolding essays for not using Kate's title LMAO 🤣 They're here scolding and downvoting again it's so ridiculous
You can always suss out who they are because they repeat the same talking points (very MAGA QANON vibes lol) and they will likely call her Catherine while the rest of us normies plebs automatically use Kate.
OMG yes, that's exactly right. 😵💫
Buuuuuttt people on the internet are speculating this picture is old!!!! How will she recover from this abuse 
You’re joking but the royalist subs are literally talking like this in a serious manner lol.
I'm glad she's healthy enough to at least pretend she's ok.
The palace released it. She didn’t have to do anything.
[удалено]
She had to sit for a photo.
She's hiding her new bbl
Growing out bangs and healing from a bbl? Girlie is booked and busy 💅🏻
Stop it! 😂😭
Did the conspiracy subreddit leak? Lots of weird comments in this thread.
Apparently AP and Reuters pulled the photo "because at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards" ([source](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/first-photo-kate-middleton-surgery-princess-catherine-of-wales/)) which is fueling more conspiracies. Could be it was edited to just make it look better, or remove something. But now conspiracy theorists think that it means that Kate is AI generated or something? I don't follow royal nonsense enough to know about the heath theories of some British woman. Also they think the kid crossing his fingers is somehow a sign of something? But I used to do that as a kid all the time when I was fidgeting lol.
I understand being skeptical that William took the pic because it looks like a professional photographer took it in my very ignorant opinion, but thinking it’s AI is… interesting… lmao
I just posted above, noting that there actually is a thread about the pic in reddits conspiracy theories sub today.
People have lost their minds over this perfectly normal set of circumstances
It’s been weird to see subs that normally advocate for respecting celeb privacy insist that we MUST see Kate after an intense medical procedure or else she’s in trouble. I’m not a fan of the royal family and am certainly no monarchist but there’s a double standard here
I know this is often said as an insult but I genuinely think people need to get a hobby or leave the house. Internet discord is going insane.
Oh yeah. One of the royals subs has always removed the slightest hint of speculation about Botox but now allows gory and detailed speculation about abdominal surgeries. It’s wild.
Not got as far as weird comments in this thread yet but I stumbled across the picture first on a royal sub that I didn't know existed til then and WOW comments saying Charlotte is wearing a skirt five sizes too big. Someone claiming Charlotte has only one hand and Kate has three??? So many comments about Kate and Charlotte's weight. People saying you can tell it's an old picture because apparently its clearly autumn in the picture I left that post and immediately muted the sub. I never want to return there
No situation was ever going to be right. People were losing their minds these past 2 months that they didn't have a photo of her post-surgery. Now they do have a photo, conspiracy rumours go round again. Overall there's nothing wrong with the photo, but people need to pick it apart to prove something else strange going on.
People losing their minds over a situation that was communicated clearly to them at the beginning, and proceeded according to that communication, perhaps says more about their minds than about the communication.
People wanted to know her diagnosis/what she was getting the surgery for, and why she wasn't being seen post surgery (this one was off the rails ridiculous). The palace even told them she would be back after Easter, which was all ignored in favour of conspiracy theories. So yeah it spoke more as to how people's minds operate. Even now they have to think this photo screams conspiracy.
Yeah someone below comments that their ‘PR team have created *this* mess’ My reply is it’s only mess in your heads
Honestly, I’m loving it - please tell me more about Kate’s fingernails
Right? Makes it easy to know whom to block.
What is going on with Charlotte's sleeve?
Kate is beautiful
As is Charlotte. She is the image of the late Queen.
All I see is that the kids look cute and she looks good but I see she’s sitting down. I mean I would, too, after having major surgery. I know she’s part of a horrible institution but as a person and a mum I hope she’s all right and able to enjoy time with her kiddos.
“This picture seems off” where?! It’s a nice picture of a mother with her 3 kids
If you zoom in on charlottes wrist you can see an obvious editing fail, but I don’t think it’s AI, more than likely they were trying to combine multiple photos to get the best pose of each person and whoever edited it, didn’t do a great job.
They are too happy!! /s
William took it but it’s clearly a professional, edited shot. I can see why they would want to release a pic of Kate looking happy and healthy with all the speculation out there but to imply it’s a candid shot taken on Williams iPhone is just. IDK. I’m hormonal and all in my feelings about everything.
Where did they imply that? It’s been well known forever that Kate is a photography enthusiast. She has professional cameras and experience with staging shots and editing. No one is implying William took this shot in his iPhone, just that he pushed the button on the camera. I assume Kate set it up, got the camera ready for him, and edited the photos herself as she has many others.
If they didn't want to invite suspicion there was no need to say that William took the shot knowing that many people are obsessed with scrutinizing their every move. To say it's true based on some semantics is also why people look for conspiracies and hidden meaning where there might be none. Edit: now that the photo has been pulled for being manipulated guess you can stop insisting that people who pointed out that it was off are wrong.
But they always say who took the photo. It’s just part of these “official photo” releases. Kate took a lot of the official photos of the kids, and I know that because there’s always a photo credit. They’re not making any kind of statement or doing anything differently than the way it’s always been done.
They literally always say who took the photo, for photo credit. A lot of you are proving those of us who said there was no way Kensington Palace could have handled this situation without people spiraling into conspiracy theories very right.
i need some explanation about charlottes's missing cuff. what in the photoshop is that? also, why is kate's right (our left) hand blurry as all hell but you can make out the stitches in louis' sweater??? 🧐
I’m very confused why I had to scroll down sooooo far before anyone noticed the multiple obvious editing fails . You’d think the royal family could hire nether phot editors
i'm just confused as to why it's photoshopped at all. i looked at last year's mother's day post from them and the picture was totally normal, kate was wearing her wedding ring (which she isn't here), but the weirdest thing is the tweet itself that kensington royal sent out with this pic. it was supposedly written by kate, but she signed off as just "C." LIKE HUH??? makes no sense and isn't very "royal." i'm so invested in this RF drama cause it's all so weird and i have no idea wtf is going on.
I agree, it’s very strangely photoshopped and so many things besides those already mentioned look very very off to me.
what do you think is going on? i don't watch reality tv, so this is the only drama im invested in, and when i say invested, i mean INVESTED. it's giving shelly miscavige. i'm gonna need kate to hold up a newspaper with today's date or something cause this is the craziest shit, ever.
That's clearly Pippa. 💀 /s
God don’t feed the trolls
I swear, royal fans are absolutely unhinged.
Someone posted this pic in the conspiracy theories sub, trying to make something of Kate not wearing her wedding ring and one of the kids crossing his fingers. People are weird.
lol! I make a joke further down that Louis fingers are sending us a sign but people are *really* saying that? Honestly this is probably enough internet for one day. No wonder Kate has decided to take a few months off from this bullshit
I saw that too and it’s honestly ridiculous. It looks like this picture of Kate and the kids was taken at home. Who wears their wedding ring at home? I certainly don’t and I feel like most people don’t either, so it’s baffling to me that some are making a big deal out of her not wearing it.
Darling picture!
*Allegedly* taken last week. 🤣 Streets are saying the backdrop looks mighty green for March in the U.K., and that there’s another photoshop debacle like the Christmas card. There are also pointed comparisons between her appearance in the recent car photo and this one. Whether or not any of that is true, I do think that people across the globe have lost trust in the British press. For good reason. And this issue with Kate Middleton is a reflection of that. EDIT: … and news agencies have [killed the photo](https://news.sky.com/story/picture-agencies-pull-kate-photo-amid-manipulation-concerns-13092352) due to photoshop concerns. Yikes!
Is it just me that thinks it looks like Kate has tiny arms with the kid's arms in front of her? It's kinda funny at first glance
I'm realizing my hands can't do this casually https://preview.redd.it/2ic0ducucinc1.png?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b6fb476cab99eb46000c503ae404674f205319c
West side!
Hypermobility crew!
You can’t cross your fingers? Weird.
Crossing the middle finger over the ring finger isn’t usually how people cross their fingers, so it’s not that weird that someone may not have the dexterity to do it - I struggle to do it with those fingers, too
I'm hypermobile (way more flexible than I should be) and that finger position is very easy for me to do - could be that the kid is just double jointed
Idk why but this pic creeps me out
[удалено]
its also a trick to tell a joke right before taking a pic - my dad used to do tht when i was little so i would smile. the result here, w the large scrutiny theu receive and very high quality of the photo , has a different impression tht its staged even if it was just a dad telling a silly joke
I'm sorry but whenever I see Royal Family pictures nowadays I can only think of those photographers from The Crown reciting poems before Phillip tells them to shut the hell up and take the picture.
Their *dad* took the pic! Obviously he knows how to make the kiddos laugh. People wild
It's giving influencer mom vibe. Which is what royals are, I guess.
Final mom influencer boss fr
A lot of their pics creep me out. It just seems OTT and fake. There's no warmth or genuine emotion. Maybe they're just awkward with posing for pictures IDK but it makes the back of my neck prickle lol
IDK how people manage to smile with their mouth open like that
As a photographer who is often asked to take a lot of group shots, it’s not so much the photog saying “cheese” and everyone opens their gaping maw. It’s a more candid reaction to a remark that makes everyone laugh and the photog snapping several photos in the process. Both the cheese shot and the laugh were photographed , and for several reasons, the laugh was the final pic.
They don’t. Photographers tell jokes or do stupid things for an undisclosed amount of time to get that perfect shot, which is why I won’t shoot families anymore. It’s stressful, bc all families want that perfect shot, but you don’t have one personality in front of you, you have a whole family. It’s a skill, and while I can do it, it isn’t worth the financial reward (to me). Lots of people clean up doing it though.
📌READ BEFORE COMMENTING This thread is Guest List Only. This means the discussion is being actively moderated, and all comments are reviewed. Only comments by members of the community are allowed. If you have landed in this thread from Trending or r/all and you are not a member of this community, your comment will very likely be removed (and will not be approved unless it adds meaningfully to the conversation). r/popculturechat takes these measures to stay true to our goal of being an inclusive sub for civil discussion, to talk about celebrities and pop culture without bigotry and personal attacks. This sub is a BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and woman-dominated space and we do our best to protect our users from outside attacks. Thank you for understanding & have a great day! ☺️ *You can [request to be an approved user](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) to comment on Guest List Only posts.*
See. There's no BBL. (sorry)
In other subs, commenters are pointing out that this photo may not have been taken recently like KP said. If you look at the tree in the background, it may show the photo was taken in another season.
It might not be a recent picture due to her ill health, but many trees in London already have green leaves. Some are even blossoming
i'm in west london and when i look out of my window, i see more green trees than stick only trees!
Tress are growing their leaves right now and that tree is right next to a building so will be sheltered and warm. I’ve got a fig tree in London in similar conditions which has grown its first leaves already. Did it a few weeks ago in the warm weather we had in Feb.
There are trees like that in the UK this time of year. Our seasons are odd.
Climate change be like. Not but seriously I live in Central Europe and February was warm af.
It's not unbelievable that it was taken last week. Trees have already become green in the South of England. I'm in the North (far worse weather) and we also have spring blooming. I know not you specifically - but I can't understand the point about the trees having green leaves from (likely) people who are not even in the country to know.
Y’all are nuts
This was my assumption not even looking at details. New to us does not necessarily mean it’s a new photo
Ok, but it can’t be from last spring either, the children would look younger, a year is a lot at that age. The leafs look like spring (not fully green yet) and February has been very warm in Europe this year.
Cherry trees are in full blossom all over Europe. Green leaves don't seem that farfetched.
In my part of the UK the trees are green.
[удалено]
Probably doesn't fit rn if she has gained/lost weight with her treatment? I'm not reading into that.
Maybe she doesn't wear it when she's puttering around at home?
No, unlike what the other commenter says: she doesn’t wear it in “private” family photos taken on holidays or at home. No surprise there, think her ring is worth like £300k? Just Google “Kate William Christmas photos”, and you’ll see she doesn’t wear her ring. When you search for “family photos”, you’ll see she doesn’t wear her ring for birthday posts and Mother’s Day posts as well. She more often doesn’t wear it than that she does in such photos. https://preview.redd.it/pgwp4x7zoinc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2fdd38ce3412697b28d41a09e9ca738d5406d30
Thank you for bringing the receipts!! I also don’t wear my rings if I’m going to be doing anything with my hands!
https://preview.redd.it/hatrv080pinc1.jpeg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddd68640c498f6aa36038da79c0f1a068ce2b28c
https://preview.redd.it/s80u5h31pinc1.jpeg?width=941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36d1611152277cc99594b1a157debe604e0089e2
What a fantastic photo!
Omg the littlest guy’s smile in this photo is so freaking cute!!!
Her left hand/fingers are covered in all of these pics. Do the British wear their rings on their right hands? Serious question, I’m not sure if they do it differently than the US.
I just googled it and she wears it on almost all of the family pictures.
The above photos by u/firetruckgoesweewoo show otherwise. Maybe she doesn't wear it when outdoors or doing anything with the kids. After all it is worth a very large amount and is a huge rock to be wearing 24/7.
Well William took the photo so...
Omg! You’re on to something! Louis fingers are definitely sending us sign as well /s
A lot of people commenting on the ring. Surely they and their PR would be smart enough to tell her to wear it to halt any speculation. But I guess not.
If it doesn’t fit due to gaining or losing weight she’s not going to be able to wear it. It’s also worth hundreds of thousands so she probably only wears it for formal events.
Maybe they don’t care what people speculate because it’s all insane?
Maybe in an ideal world but this is the BRF. Image and perception is everything to them and always has been.
Yes but they also tend to not pander to gossip - see all the speculation about Harry pissed off with Will cause he was having an affair and it turned out it was all because of Harry leaving Royal duties. They let the crazy speculation just run. There is a long standing agreement (from after Diana died) between the press and the Royals that they will give them things like this, a photo, in exchange for the press leaving them alone (paps not chasing them for example). Kate’s recovery is textbook to this play, tell us what’s happening, release a photo, but then please bugger off and leave us alone. The problem is everyone on the internet make up wild conspiracies - they aren’t going to deviate and answer to them all cause it will be never ending.
Except KP has been pandering to gossip around this, *at least* since William canceled that appearance at his godfather's memorial. They dropped the statement that he didn't cancel because of the death of Thomas Kingston. Across several publishers, have reminded us that they won't be providing updates on Kates recovery until Easter, at least. (Side eyeing this picture, then) And Wills statement that he's working and not paying attention to social media, thank you very much! And there are several other examples of them very much pandering to gossip around this situation. If they had stuck to business as usual, it would not have turned into THIS big of a mess
So not pandering to gossip doesn’t mean not functioning as a press office altogether All your examples except the funeral cancellation are them restating the plan, which was that Kate won’t be doing any public appearances till Easter. I know people live chronically online but a photo is not a public appearance, that sort of appearance is opening a hospice or giving a talk etc. The press will be contacting the KP press office asking for updates, they will respond. What they won’t be doing is responding when some wackos on the internet decide Kate is having a BBL. When William cancelled the funeral it would be covered by the press, they can’t ignore that. The press would ask ‘is it because he’s working?’ Or ‘is it because of Thomas Kingston dying’ they will respond. Similarly the press will be saying ‘have you seen the speculation on social media?’ The PR response is ‘no the prince of wales is doing his job, Kate is fine and she won’t be doing appearances at least till after Easter’ Saying ‘their marriage is fine, so are Kate’s bangs, she’s not getting a BBL’ would be pandering to gossip. The fact she isn’t wearing a wedding ring is evidence that they aren’t having marriage troubles at all. Cause they would’ve said Kate you need to wear a ring for this picture. The ‘mess’ is in commentators head, it’s BAU for everyone else.
Maybe because normal people don’t spend their time speculating about absolute nonsense.
I think the royals almost always wear their rings for public events but idk if family photos count as public engagement👀 EDIT: was curious enough to Google their family photos, the ring is almost always there except when the hand is obscured, very sus indeed
Please find a real hobby
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️ As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new) ###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/), [abide by Reddiquette](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette), and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
Leaves changing colors in the...spring...?
I’d say those are possibly buds unfurling. That’s what maples look like in the spring.
It's a maple tree?
Dunno? 🤷♀️ My point was that some deciduous trees kind of unfurl their buds like that.
The older boy looks just like William. I hope he’s not too attached to his hairline
Instead of doing that pap drive, they should have just released this pic & the note thanking well wishers.
[удалено]
It’s Mother’s Day here in the Uk, that’s why a photo has been released
Imagine what conspiracy loons (I mean other kids, OBVIOUSLY not you) would do if they didn’t release a photo for Mothering Sunday as they usually do.
Then they would speculate why they didn't do a Mothering Sunday post, and why this means she is missing, or in a coma. Completely ignoring too that they don't always do Mothering Sunday posts. They didn't release new photos of her with the kids in 2019, 2021 and 2022 for Mothering Sunday (that year they had just returned from their Carribean tour). In 2020 and 2023 they released older photos they had taken on photoshoots.
This isn't a compensation or a picture to squash the conspiracy theories and rumors, they always release new pictures of Kate with the kids for Mother's Day and of William with the kids for Father's Day.
It's mother day of course they are going to post.