As Kate Middleton’s photogate continues, This Morning anchor Ben Shephard posed the question we’ve all been wondering about.
While the Princess of Wales acknowledged to retouching the now-infamous Mother’s Day photo, many have been perplexed by the Palace’s subsequent silence and the publication of the original image.
Ben, 49, was among many who felt left out when Prince William, 41, emerged in public hours after Kate’s confession at the Commonwealth Day ceremony on Monday.
The former Good Morning Britain host hinted that he thought it weird that Prince William did not address the picture altering issue on today’s This Morning.
Ben questioned: ‘Last night, Prince William was out and about and no comment was made – and that’s almost now become the story.
‘Why are they ignoring it? Why did he not make light of it, make a joke of it, make reference to it in some way to appease the vacuum of information? That’s one of the issues, isn’t it?’
His co-host, Cat Deeley, 47, asked a similar question, stating that the audience needed more information regarding Kate’s health after she had stomach surgery.
She said: ‘Don’t you also think it’s become this furore because we don’t know the element of the operation? There’s this underlying unknown. What aren’t they telling us? What are they telling us? Is what they’ve told us true?’
The photo has been a national and international talking topic, with Lorraine Kelly weighing in on the situation on her show.
She has urged the public to: ‘Just leave her.’
‘I think it’s turning, people are just saying “Enough now”,’ she remarked.
Yesterday’s broadcast of This Morning had a discussion about the situation. In a confusing turn of events, it appeared that Gyles Brandreth trusted a parody tweet promising an ITV play about the royal photo.
‘ITV is doing a series now – just announced – with Sheridan Smith called The Lost Princess. It’s coming later this year,’ he confidently told new hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley.
The regular This Morning contributor wasn’t corrected by Ben, Cat, or Ashley James, who was also discussing the day’s news stories with him.
On Mother’s Day, Prince William took a photo of Kate Middleton, 42, and her children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 5 and published it by Kensington Palace.
Kate thanked followers for their ‘kind greetings and continuous support’ in her first post following stomach surgery in January.
Within hours after publishing, Getty Images, Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) removed the image from their archives, citing manipulation.
Viewers noticed blurring on Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and alignment issues with the backdrop. People began circulating conspiracy ideas regarding Kate’s whereabouts on social media.
Kate admitted to occasionally dabbling with editing, as do many amateur photographers, and sorry for any confusion.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITVX.
