How Kate's photo saga turned into a crisis (ANALYSIS)

(CNN) — Kensington Palace is not only home to the Prince and Kate, Princess of Wales. It is a carefully managed brand under the parent company of the British monarchy, which has thousands of practices to spin good stories about itself.

This is part of the reason why many people find it difficult to understand the palace's public relations strategy surrounding the missing princess case.

Kensington Palace's efforts to curb speculation have sometimes made matters worse, especially after it released a Mother's Day picture on March 10 (Britons celebrate Mother's Day early), allegedly featuring the princess and their three children. Prince William the same week.

This should be the photo that puts an end to the growing rumours: definitive proof that all is well at the House of Windsor.

Instead, it turned everyone with an internet connection into an armchair Photoshop expert, severely damaging the palace's credibility. Hours after its release, major photo agencies issued “takedown notices” after discovering the image had been manipulated by the source. The princess later admitted that she had edited parts of the photo “as many amateur photographers do from time to time”.

“It's like they're deliberately making things worse to keep Meghan out of the news,” said Eric Sofer, a senior crisis communications expert in New York (he's referring, of course, to Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. )

Many public relations professionals started making the mistake earlier this year of what they call a classic mistake: saying nothing. When rumors about Kate's health began in January, the palace didn't feel the need to deny the rumours.

Kate underwent unspecified abdominal surgery and will not be back in public “after Easter,” it said.

The message at the time was, more or less, could everyone give the future queen some privacy?

And for most people, the answer was yes. Aside from the usual simmering drama of a family operating under the relentless gaze of the media, many people outside the UK may not have heard of anything fishy going on in the royal family.

And then there were the photos that set the internet on fire, along with dated social media conversations we've never seen before. 2015 popular viral about dress color.

As for Kate's popularity, They wrote My CNN colleagues wrote, “Every inch was scrutinized and eagle-eyed royal watchers were quick to question her lack of a wedding or engagement ring, now in bitter March temperatures and lush greenery in the background.”

The next day, the official Kensington Palace X account released a statement from Kate Apologized For any confusion created by your photo editing “experiment”.

However, with that photo, Kensington Palace destroyed the credibility of the press and the public.

A communication strategy that previously worked at Palace was “keep calm and carry on”. But without more details from actual spokespeople, the Internet did what it does best: take mostly innocuous Internet conversations and amplify them until they go viral.

Media outlets, including CNN, are now reviewing all of the photos previously provided by the palace.

This week, Getty Images claimed to have discovered another digitally manipulated official photograph. A CNN analysis detected Possible changes up to 19 places.

Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that it was updating its procedures for examining images from Kensington Palace following the discovery of a second altered photo. The photo of Queen Elizabeth with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren was taken by Kate and released by Kensington Palace last year.

“In accordance with the Thomson Reuters Foundation principles, photographs must meet its editorial standards for image quality, accuracy and authenticity,” a Reuters spokesperson said in a statement.

The photo scandal raised questions about the circumstances under which the media should accept and scrutinize submitted photos (from any source), especially in an age of artificial intelligence and easy photo editing.

Media outlets, including CNN, frequently broadcast photos of government officials and other sources. (Think of the famous 2011 Situation Room photo of President Barack Obama and his advisers during the attack on Osama bin Laden's compound.) But Kate's photo scandal illustrates how even professional photojournalists must constantly update and challenge their processes. .

Once upon a time, it might have been easier to a) get away with manipulating images and b) rebuild your trust in reporters when you drop the ball.

But in the age of TikTok and YouTube, cleaning up a PR mess is much more difficult.

The royal rumor mill never lets up even after it appears New pictures from Kate on Tuesday.

In a video published by British tabloid The Sun, Kate appears to be taking a healthy stroll with her husband at a “farm shop” on Saturday.

Fans heaved a sigh of relief. But the cynical crowd immediately began accusing the palace of cheating. As one TikTok user put it, it's “Fake Kate”. “Look at the height difference!” The caption on the post read, “Hey girl, I've got my tinfoil hat and I'm with you.” Another joked: “I think you're crazy, but I totally trust you.”

These are all mostly harmless internet conversations. But the persistence of plots speaks to the extent to which Palace has lost control of the narrative.

Keep calm, consider the circumstances and carry on, seem calm now and trust that everyone is looking the other way.

— Brett Rogers contributed to this article.