Princess Kate seen at farm shop a week after photo editing controversy
Kate, the Princess of Wales, is seen in a new video with Prince William as the pair visited a local farm shop over the weekend in Windsor, England.
The video, newly obtained by TMZ and shared on Monday, is the first video footage the public has seen of Kate since she was hospitalized in mid-January for what Kensington Palace described at the time as planned abdominal surgery. It is also only the third time Kate has been seen in public since late December as questions continue to swirl online about her health and well-being.
The U.K.’s The Sun newspaper was the first to report that Kate was seen over the weekend looking "happy, relaxed and healthy" as she went about her day-to-day life in Windsor, where she and William live with their three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.
In addition to visiting a local farm shop together, Kate and William also reportedly watched their three kids play sports, according to The Sun.
Since January, Kate's extended absence from public duties has caused rumors to swirl online about her health and her marriage to William.
Those rumors only compounded after a photo William and Kate shared on social media on Mother's Day in the U.K. was later retracted by global news agencies due to concerns over "manipulation."
Kate later issued a statement on social media apologizing for the "confusion" caused by the photo.
"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she said in a statement. "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."
Most royal experts and visual verification experts agreed the editing in Kate's Mother's Day photo seems minor, likely nothing more than an effort by a mom to make herself and her kids look as good as possible.
The fallout from the photo's retraction, however, has left parts of the news media and the public questioning the reliability of the royal family.
Last week, a leader of one of the news agencies that retracted the photo, Agence France-Presse, told BBC News Radio that Kensington Palace is no longer considered a trusted source for the agency.
"No, absolutely not," said Phil Chetwynd, global news director at AFP. "Like with anything, when you're let down by a source, the bar is raised."
According to Chetwynd, issuing a "kill notice" for a photograph based on manipulation is a very rare occurrence.
Kensington Palace has not commented on the photo beyond the apology issued by Kate.
When Kate was hospitalized in January, the palace said she was not expected to resume public duties until after Easter.
