The Fuss Over The Royal Family Photo

I am not sure it is criticism to comment on the fact that a photo was altered and so turned down by a number of press outlets. Should we lie, pretend it didnt happen. If the institution that you want to protect is reliant on people avoiding repeating facts, well its just not going to work.

Oldnproud

I genuinely don't get all the fuss about this. People edit photos all the time, usually just to make the shared photo look as 'nice' as possible.
So the lack of rings was overlooked. That doesn't mean that the reason was anything more than a simple oversight. These things happen.

I agree, it’s a storm in a teacup.
If the pic had been taken by a professional it would have still been tweaked here and there to bet the best result.
If, say, the pic had pretended to be taken in the South of France or on a yacht then that would have been a lie, but as it is there’s no harm done whatsoever.

I understand what you say, Dickens and while I have no particular interest in the Monarchy, I do think that the Royal Family as a whole needs to consider its relationship with the public and the media over how it handles health stories. While I respect the family’s right to privacy, they do send out mixed messages that you yourself have touched on.

King Charles made it very public that he was being treated for a prostate condition but when it was discovered that he had cancer, the type of cancer was and has been concealed.

With the Princess of Wales, it has been reported that her surgery was not cancer-related but the precise nature of her illness has been concealed.

Isn’t it a fact that when famous people are open about their health conditions, it creates positive public awareness? Surely, King Charles’s openness about his prostate condition would have encouraged more men to come forward to be checked. So why not be open about whatever kind of cancer he has for the same reasons?

Prince William has been very open about his own struggles with mental health and PTSD and in doing so has encouraged other men to be more open and to seek help.

It seems to me that the length of the Princess’s hospital stay and the length of her recovery suggests something quite serious so might that not make her a candidate to become an ambassador for any charity which supports her condition?

The Royal Family are public servants after all and do have a duty to the public.

There is also the question of owning one’s own story. Be open about something and after a few days it ceases to be news rather than creating weeks and months of media and social media speculation which this photo farrago has only served to increase. Nobody is ever going to be able to quench the public and media thirst for stories about the Royal Family so why stoke the fire?

So true Dickens many comments have really upset me, not
as a royalist but a woman , someone said ‘we deserve more’ , what blood ? Women talking and criticising a woman for such shallow reasons.

Anniebach

A woman who chose not to disclose why she needed surgery,
She has been criticised ever since and by women here and by the media, it’s so cruel, so wrong

Photo editing aside, it seems some feel that the POW is public property via the Sovereign Grant (figures vary on the cost per person, per year - I've seen as little as £1-62 or thereabouts, but it depends on who is doing the calculating and what they do or do not include).

"The public have a right to know" said one individual on a social media site.

I don't quite know why I feel so incensed by this - by nature, I am a Republican - but I do.

Prurient curiosity and speculation - some of, about the state of her marriage to William - revolts me. Voyeuristic conjecture about anyone is to me just idle curiosity and in this case being given legitimacy because of who she is.

The king chose to reveal his prostate condition, but not the type of cancer he's been diagnosed with. Catherine has decided that it is enough that we know she has had abdominal surgery. IMO no-one, royal or not, should be compelled to reveal any intimate detail about their medical condition that they do not feel comfortable with.

Someone up-thread suggested Catherine photo-shopped the photo to hide the bruising from a canula insertion and forgot about her rings. This is the kind of frivolous speculation that makes me cringe, and despair.

The POW does not run the country, her condition will have no material effect on anyone's life. I simply do not understand the, for some, obsession with the need to know anything more than we already do.

A woman who chose not to disclose why she needed surgery,
She has been criticised ever since and by women here and by the media, it’s so cruel, so wrong

She’s been let down by her PR team imo. She’s off sick, tried to do something ro quell conspiracy theories and been left dangling

For the fiftieth time, news agencies do not “touch up” photos. PR agencies do. Magazines and newspapers might for their own photoshoots. News agencies do not.

And this wasn’t “touching up”, it was significant digital manipulation to create a photo that probably wasn’t ever taken in the first place, or at least not in the way it was published by KP.

The Princess of Wales does not need to apologise .
It's a beautiful family photograph , which she has photoshopped .
It isn't evidence in a crime scene .

I love the way that the headline on the Mirror Group FB page this morning was phrased that it it was the "public" that had spotted the 5 things that were not right with the photo. 🙄🤷 I am sure the majority of the public have better things to do than scrutinise photos, most of us would look , say what a nice photo of her and the children glad he he is feeling better and scroll past.
We all know the news agency people touch up their photos what is so different, afraid they are will of a job!!

AmberSpyglass

We do all realise that she didn’t post it, right? It and the message that went with it will have been drafted by her team - she’ll have signed it off, most likely (or not, if she’s out of commission), but it’s not like she’s on Instagram merrily uploading pictures. It’s a calculated PR move, and in this case it backfired.

👏👏👏

We do all realise that she didn’t post it, right? It and the message that went with it will have been drafted by her team - she’ll have signed it off, most likely (or not, if she’s out of commission), but it’s not like she’s on Instagram merrily uploading pictures. It’s a calculated PR move, and in this case it backfired.

Her PR team have failed her.

Or maybe the public have failed her? Poor girl only wanted to put out a happy Mothers Day greeting. She probably never expected the Spanish Inquisition.

I genuinely don't get all the fuss about this. People edit photos all the time, usually just to make the shared photo look as 'nice' as possible.
So the lack of rings was overlooked. That doesn't mean that the reason was anything more than a simple oversight. These things happen.

CoolCoco

She probably photoshopped her hands to hide the cannula bruises and forgot about the rings.

You've seen her in person? You've seen the cannula bruises? Wow with that intimate a relationship to her, shouldn't you be being a bit more discreet?

Leave her alone, you don’t know how she’s feeling, always on show 24/7 even when unwell.

She probably photoshopped her hands to hide the cannula bruises and forgot about the rings.

It takes a certain mindset to think of wearing a wedding band or not wearing a wedding band

Yes their PR used to be very good, even I admired it. I wonder if they are trying to operate in the way they used to and thats just not possible in the modern age.

No Dickens I haven't said we have a "right to know anything".

The Mothers Day photo with the POW looking happy and well would have helped to quell the rumours about her health.

However her PR team failed to advise her that omitting the rings she always wears in public and for her informal MD photos (and one ring was her MILs ring....William's Mother .. )was likely to raise comments. Which it has done the last thing she would probably want.

And this whole palaver has now almoat eclipsed the Commonwealth Day celebrations..

Her PR team have failed her.

Anniebach

Such longing for a total nervous breakdown or death , the media would be so excited

I’m sure no one, and that includes the media, longs for that scenario.

Such longing for a total nervous breakdown or death , the media would be so excited

The three agencies who initially pulled it are the ones who set the standard across the industry - they’re the BBC or New York Times equivalent. That’s why it’s such a big deal.

A) Do they? Where’s the source for that? And B) the digital manipulation in the KP photo is so obvious and poor that they couldn’t very well not have killed it.

But news agencies publish other photos that show or imply something that isn’t true. Are those acceptable?