Kate Middleton's 'disappearance': How the royal crisis evolved

British media on Monday shared new images allegedly of British Princess Catherine, who is commonly called Kate. But it failed to quell rumours, fuelling the international interest around her whereabouts further. Here's how the royal PR crisis evolved.

The Sun, a British tabloid, on Monday published a short clip that appeared to show The Prince and Princess of Wales - William and Kate – smiling as they walked together, carrying shopping bags. It said the footage was taken on Saturday in Windsor, west of London. But followers of the scandal questioned if it was really Kate and William in the grainy video.

The speculation around Kate's "disappearance" comes at a time when the royal family is under particular scrutiny because King Charles Ill has also had to cancel public duties while he undergoes treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.

Experts say the scandal has emerged as a result of low trust in public institutions and an incredibly sceptical and savvy population. The PR disaster is more evidence that the royal family's long-held mantra - "never complain, never explain" — is impossible in a social media-saturated era.

The disastrous photoshopping

Wild speculation had begun swirling about the health of the princess, 42, in the wake of her absence from public royal life since Christmas Day. In that light, the palace last week issued the image of Kate and her children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - to mark Mother's Day in Britain. A family snapshot taken, the palace said, by Prince William.

However, eagle-eyed observers noticed inconsistencies in the photo that indicated that it had been photoshopped. Rumours on social media went as far as to suggest that the entire photo had been put together with older photos of the family. Within hours, leading agencies, including The Associated Press, withdrew the photo over concerns it had been digitally manipulated in a way that did not meet industry photo standards.

People were more than unimpressed when in a social media post, Kate suggested she had edited the photo herself. She apologised for the "confusion" and wrote on X: "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day."

People questioned whether the press department wasn't more likely to be behind all public communications, including any retouching of photos, in an institution like the royal family.