It is, by all accounts, a royal mess. And this time, the uproar surrounding the British monarchs is linked to a seemingly innocuous photograph of the Princess of Wales, Catherine (Kate) Middleton and her children. The photograph was released by Kensington Palace to honour a Mother’s Day tradition and also to quell speculation about The Princess of Wales’ recent surgery. But, the move yielded quite the opposite results. As keen observers pointed out oddities in the photograph, alleging that the image was heavily edited or worse AI generated, Middleton issued an apology admitting to have edited the photograph. 

Her admission has sparked, not for the first time, a heated debate about the perils and pitfalls of editing, and when a few tweaks to a photo can compromise its integrity. Living, as we do, in an increasingly digital world where photos and videos can be FaceTuned and filtered by amateur users in a matter of mere minutes, where does one draw the line when it comes to editing?