--- title: How Kate Middleton’s Pic Was Altered and the Promise of Provenance Credentialing description: A leading photo forensics expert on the likely extent to which the royal family photo was edited—and how new technology can help build trust in a digital world of increasing doubt. canonical: https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/ author: Hany Farid article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-03-12T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:40:32.455Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Kate Middleton’s Pic Was Altered and the Promise of Provenance Credentialing og:description: A leading photo forensics expert on the likely extent to which the royal family photo was edited—and how new technology can help build trust in a digital world of increasing doubt. og:url: https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Princess of Wales Kate Middleton apologizes for editing Mother's Day photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Kate Middleton’s Pic Was Altered and the Promise of Provenance Credentialing twitter:description: A leading photo forensics expert on the likely extent to which the royal family photo was edited—and how new technology can help build trust in a digital world of increasing doubt. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=ccdab89b-5e30-4857-9ecd-83793fe00ed9&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=ccdab89b-5e30-4857-9ecd-83793fe00ed9&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=ccdab89b-5e30-4857-9ecd-83793fe00ed9&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=ccdab89b-5e30-4857-9ecd-83793fe00ed9&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kate, Princess of Wales, Says She Has Cancer and is Undergoing Chemotherapy [Watch (HLS stream): Kate, Princess of Wales, Says She Has Cancer and is Undergoing Chemotherapy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b4DhRPU2.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2024-03-22. Kate Middleton announced on Friday that she was diagnosed with cancer following a surgery earlier this year and is undergoing what she called “preventative” chemotherapy._ by [Hany Farid](https://time.com/author/hany-farid/) ## Hany Farid Mar 12, 2024 5:00 AM UTC Kate Middleton announced on Friday that she was diagnosed with cancer following a surgery earlier this year and is undergoing what she called “preventative” chemotherapy. by [Hany Farid](https://time.com/author/hany-farid/) ## Hany Farid Mar 12, 2024 5:00 AM UTC As an academic who has spent the past 25 years developing techniques to detect photo manipulation, I am used to getting panicked calls from reporters trying to authenticate a breaking story. This time, the calls, emails, and texts started rolling in on Sunday evening. Catherine, Princess of Wales, has not been seen publicly since Christmas Day. The abdominal surgery she underwent in January led to widespread speculation as to her whereabouts and wellbeing. Sunday was Mother’s Day in the U.K., and Kensington Palace had [released an official photo of her and her three children](https://time.com/6899310/kate-middleton-speaks-out-new-picture-after-surgery/). The image had been distributed by the Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, and other media outlets. The picture then quickly went viral on social media platforms with tens of millions of views, shares, and comments. > [](https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1766750995445387393) But just hours later, the AP [issued](https://apnews.com/article/princess-wales-kate-surgery-photo-manipulated-3863e9ac78aec420a91e4f315297c348) a rare “photo kill,” asking its customers to delete the image from their systems and archives because “on closer inspection it appears the source has manipulated the image.” The primary concern appeared to be over Princess Charlotte’s left sleeve, which showed clear signs of digital manipulation. What was unclear at the time was whether this obvious artifact was a sign of more significant photo editing, or an isolated example of minor photo editing. In an effort to find out, I started by analyzing the image with a forensic software designed to distinguish photographic images from fully AI-generated images. This analysis confidently classified the image as not AI-generated. I then performed a few more traditional forensic tests including analyzing the lighting and sensor noise pattern. None of these tests revealed evidence of more significant manipulation. After all this, I concluded it was most likely that the photo was edited using Photoshop or a camera’s onboard editing tools. While I can’t be 100% certain of it, this explanation is consistent with Princess Kate’s [subsequent apology](https://time.com/6899310/kate-middleton-speaks-out-new-picture-after-surgery/), issued Monday, where she 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.” **Read More:** [_The Kate Middleton Photo Controversy Shows the Royal PR Team Is Out of Its Depth_](https://time.com/6899912/kate-middleton-edited-manipulated-photo/) In a rational world, this would be the end of the story. But the world—and social media in particular—is nothing if not irrational. I am already receiving dozens of emails with “evidence” of more nefarious photo manipulation and AI-generation which are then being used to speculate wildly about Princess Kate’s health. And while the type of post-hoc forensic analyses that I perform can help photo editors and journalists sort out stories like this, they cannot necessarily help combat rumors and conspiracies that quickly spread online. Manipulated images are nothing new, even from official sources. The Associated Press, for example, suspended the agency’s distribution of official imagery from the Pentagon for a time in 2008 after it released a [digitally manipulated photo](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7738342.stm) of the U.S. military’s first female four-star general. The photo of Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody was the second Army-provided photo the AP had flagged in the previous two months. The AP finally [resumed](https://archives.cjr.org/the%5Fkicker/ap%5Flifts%5Fmilitary%5Fphoto%5Fban.php) their use of these official photos after assurances from the Pentagon that military branches would be reminded of a Defense Department instruction that prohibits making changes to images if doing so misrepresents the facts or the circumstances of an event. The problem, of course, is that modern technologies make the alteration of images and video easy. And while often done for creative purposes, alteration can be problematic when it comes to images of real events, undermining trust in journalism. Detection software can be useful on an ad-hoc basis, highlighting problematic areas of an image, or whether an image may have been AI-generated. But it has limitations, being neither scalable nor consistently accurate—and bad actors will always be one step ahead of the latest detection software. **Read More:** [_How to Spot an AI-Generated Image Like the ‘Balenciaga Pope’_](https://time.com/6266606/how-to-spot-deepfake-pope/) So, what to do? The answer likely lies in digital provenance—understanding the origins of digital files, be they images, video, audio, or anything else. Provenance covers not only how the files were created, but also whether, and how, they were manipulated during their journey from creation to publication. The Content Authenticity Initiative [(CAI)](https://contentauthenticity.org/) was founded in late 2019 by Adobe, which makes Photoshop and other powerful editing software. It is now a community of more than 2,500 leading media and technology companies, working to implement an open technical standard around provenance. That open standard was developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity ([C2PA](https://c2pa.org/)), an organization formed by Adobe, Microsoft, the BBC, and others within the Linux Foundation. It’s focused on building ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. The C2PA standard quickly emerged as “best in class” in the digital provenance space. C2PA developed [Content Credentials](https://contentcredentials.org/)—the equivalent of a “nutrition label” for digital creations. By clicking on the distinctive “cr” logo that’s either on or adjacent to an image, a viewer can see where the image (or other file) comes from.  Screenshot of a Content Credentials label example from contentcredentials.org. Copyright © 2023 C2PA The credentialing protocols are being incorporated into hardware devices—cameras and smartphones—specifically so that the future viewer can accurately determine the date, time, and location of a photo at the point of capture. The same technology is already part of Photoshop and other editing programs, allowing edit changes to a file to be logged and inspected. All that information pops up when the viewer clicks on the “cr” icon, and in the same clear format and plain language as a nutrition label on the side of a box of cereal. Were this technology fully in use today, news photo editors could have reviewed the Content Credentials of the Royal Family’s photo before publication and avoided the panic of retraction. That’s why the Content Authenticity Initiative is working towards global adoption of Content Credentials, and why media companies like the BBC are already gradually introducing these labels. Others, like the AP and AFP, are working to do so later this year. Universal adoption of this standard means that, over time, every piece of digital content can eventually carry Content Credentials, creating a shared understanding of what to trust and why. Proving what’s real—as opposed to detecting what’s false—replaces doubt with certainty. ## Transcript [00:00] I want to take this opportunity to say thank you, [00:02] possibly for all the wonderful messages of support and feel [00:06] understanding. Also I've been recovering from surgery. [00:11] It is being an incredibly tough couple of months front our family, [00:14] but I've had a fantastic medical team who taking great care [00:18] of me for which I'm so grateful in January. [00:22] I underwent major abdominal surgery in London at the time. [00:25] It was so that my condition was non-cancerous. [00:30] The surgery was successful, the test for the operation [00:33] on Council has been present. [00:37] My medical team that for advice that I should undergo course [00:40] of preventative chemotherapy, and I'm now in the early stages [00:43] about treatment. [00:46] This of course came as a huge shock and William and I have been [00:50] doing everything they can to process and manage this privately [00:53] at the sake of all young family. [00:57] As you can imagine this is taking time. [00:59] It is taking me time to recover from major surgery in order [01:03] to start my treatment but most importantly it is taking us time [01:07] to explain everything to do with Charlotte's in Dewey and a way [01:11] that's appropriate for them until we show them that I'm going [01:14] to be okay. [01:16] I thought I said to them I am well, [01:18] I guess I'm Stronger Everyday by focusing on the things that [01:22] will help me heal in my mind body and spirits. [01:25] Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance [01:29] to be as if the Lost support and kindness that is being shown [01:33] by so many of you. [01:34] It means so much trust price. [01:38] They hope that you will understand that as a family. [01:41] We now need some time space and privacy while I complete [01:45] my treatment. [01:48] My wife is always bought me a deep sense of joy, [01:51] and I look forward to being back when I'm able but for now, [01:54] I must focus on making a full recovery. [01:59] At this time. [02:00] I also think you do this. [02:02] He's nice to be affected by cancer. [02:05] Everyone facing this disease and wolves have a full please. [02:09] Do not lose Faith or hope you are not alone. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/"},"headline":"A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty","datePublished":"2024-03-12T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:40:32.455Z","description":"A leading photo forensics expert on the likely extent to which the royal family photo was edited—and how new technology can help build trust in a digital world of increasing doubt.","url":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","overnight","News desk edits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hany Farid","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hany-farid/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Princess of Wales Kate Middleton apologizes for editing Mother's Day photo","caption":"Princess of Wales Kate Middleton apologizes for editing Mother's Day photo","creditText":"Rasid Necati Aslim—Anadolu/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/","name":"A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kate, Princess of Wales, Says She Has Cancer and is Undergoing Chemotherapy","description":"Kate Middleton announced on Friday that she was diagnosed with cancer following a surgery earlier this year and is undergoing what she called “preventative” chemotherapy.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/b4DhRPU2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-03-22T18:40:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b4DhRPU2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/","duration":"PT2M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6899993/princess-kate-middleton-photo-forensics-digital-provenance-credentials/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```