Kate Middleton and Prince William Were ‘Astonished’ at Controversy Surrounding Infamous Mother’s Day Photo: Report

A royal book claims that, in sharing the photo, the Princess of Wales was just trying “to bring some joy to the nation”

• Prince William and Kate Middleton were reportedly “astonished” at the reaction to the photo the couple released to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. on March 10, 2024

• The photo was released after the public hadn’t heard an update about the Princess of Wales’ health since announcing her “planned abdominal surgery” in January — and as social media speculation reached fever pitch

• A royal book by Robert Hardman claims that Kate released the infamous photo — later found to be digitally altered — “to bring some joy to the nation”

Prince William, Kate Middleton and their staff at Kensington Palace were reportedly “astonished” at the reaction to the photo the couple posted on Mother’s Day in the U.K. this year, a royal book claims.

In an update to Robert Hardman’s book Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, excerpted in the Mail on Sunday,  the author writes that the Prince and Princess of Wales, both 42, found the reaction to the Mother’s Day photo — which featured Kate seated outdoors, surrounded by her three kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — “extremely disproportionate.”

The palace generally refrains from commenting on books written about members of the royal family.

The photo, posted on March 10, followed weeks of speculation as to the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts following what officials described as a “planned abdominal surgery” on January 16. Following the announcement about her surgery — which happened the next day, January 17 — nothing more had been shared about Kate’s health, and social media speculation was reaching heightened levels before the March 10 photo controversy. It reached a fever pitch when the Prince of Wales pulled out of attending a memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, on Feb. 27 at St. George’s Chapel. William cited personal reasons for missing the service, and the online conspiracy theories grew wilder by the day.

“William and his team like to police their own lanes,” a former member of staff told Hardman. “His father did exactly the same when he was Prince of Wales.”

Aides insisted the Mother’s Day photo wasn’t meant to shut rumors down but was something Kate had planned to publish all along — but after the photo was shared, it only ramped social media up after it emerged that the photo might have been digitally altered.

Amid claims of digital alterations, the four main international photographic agencies — AFP, Associated Press, Getty and Reuters — issued a “kill notice,” retracting the photograph and citing concerns that the photo had been “manipulated” before distribution.

At the time, AP wrote an alert stating that after “closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.”

Related: Kate Middleton's 2024 Mother's Day Photo 'Killed' After Associated Press Alleges the Image Was 'Manipulated'

Hardman wrote in the updated version of his book that the decision “seemed an oddly exaggerated, almost performative, response.”

“The industry’s concerns about the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) to the integrity of mainstream photography were well known,” Hardman added in the book, which is out Nov. 7.

A member of William and Kate’s staff told Hardman, “There were several factors. Anything written or said about the Princess of Wales at that point was at fever pitch and front page news. It also spoke to the nervousness of the photography industry around AI and their future. Even so, the reaction seemed extremely disproportionate.”

The aide added that, as far as Kate was concerned, the photo was only meant “to bring some joy to the nation.”

“This had just been a mother deciding to share a personal picture of her and her children on Mother’s Day to bring some joy to the nation. That’s all,” the aide added, clarifying that William and Kate “have agency in everything” and are “the final decisionmakers.”

Related: Kate Middleton and Kids Had a 'Wonderful' Mother's Day Despite Photo Controversy, Says Source

Despite the couple’s “frustration” about the speculation the Mother’s Day photo created, Hardman wrote that “there was no time to dwell on it.” What William and Kate knew but the couple didn’t know — at least not yet — was that the Princess of Wales had recently been diagnosed with cancer.

To quell speculation, on March 11 Kate admitted making several changes to the photo, releasing a statement on social media that said, “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.” She signed the post “C,” shorthand for Catherine, indicating that the post was directly from her.

On March 22 — less than two weeks later — Kate announced in an emotional video message that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family,” Kate said in the video, telling viewers that, after her abdominal surgery, the operation revealed that cancer was present.

“My medical team, therefore, advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I am now in the early stages of that treatment,” she continued.

The type and stage of cancer has never been revealed, but Hardman wrote in his book that Kate began chemotherapy in late February.

“No constitutional responsibility sits on the Princess of Wales and never will,” a senior aide to King Charles (who was also diagnosed with cancer in 2024) told Hardman. “She is not in the line of succession. She plays an absolutely vital supporting role to the Prince of Wales and in bringing up their children, who are in the line of succession. But she herself is not. Her situation is different and it can be treated differently.”

It also began to make sense why William skipped King Constantine’s memorial service, which was held in late February, Hardman wrote.

“It was entirely understandable why the Prince of Wales had not attended that service at St. George’s Chapel and where there had been no clear explanation,” Hardman wrote. “Even ordinary members of the public now felt faintly embarrassed for having wondered what on earth had been going on in recent weeks. It was commonly agreed that this had been an emotional moment for the whole country.”

A friend of William’s told Hardman, “He’s lost his mother, he’s effectively lost his brother, his wife’s got cancer, his father’s got cancer and he’s trying to keep the show on the road. It could hardly be more stressful.”

One member of the Royal Household told Hardman of Prince William, “We know about his commitment to duty and service. But what you’ve seen since the start of this year, more than ever, is the Prince of Wales’s strength of character.”

Princess Kate released a message on social media on June 14 announcing she would be present at Trooping the Colour the next day. She wrote, “I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months.”

She continued, “I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” adding that she was “not out of the woods yet.”

“We wanted to give the green light that she was going to the parade when we knew, rather than to dangle the possibility,” an aide told Hardman of “the last-minute nature of her appearance.”

“So it was very late in the day. But she was very keen on sharing an update on her progress,” the aide added.

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Since then, Kate appeared alongside daughter Princess Charlotte and sister Pippa Middleton at Wimbledon on July 14, and announced in another video message on Sept. 9 that she had completed chemotherapy. The Princess of Wales is slowly returning to royal duty, attending an engagement in Southport, England with Prince William on Oct. 10, taking meetings at Windsor Castle and reportedly planning to attend Remembrance Sunday on Nov. 10 and host her annual Christmas carol concert in December.