Last Sunday, Kensington Palace published an official photograph to celebrate Mother’s Day in which the Princess of Wales and her three children (George, Charlotte and Louis) could be seen posing in a smiling attitude. In addition to celebrating such a special date for the British, the Royal House intended to send a reassuring message to all those who have been expressing their concern for Middleton’s health for weeks.

However, the social response to the photograph became a nightmare for the royal family, since hundreds of users and media outlets began to uncover that there were different clues that revealed that the image had been manipulated.

The situation reached such a point that Prince William’s wife had to explain herself. Middleton decided to upload a story to Instagram in which she spoke honestly and apologized to all those who were concerned when they learned that the photo was manipulated.

”Like many other amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing (…) I want to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday may have caused,” said the aristocrat in the text she shared with her followers.

The Photoshopped photo has come at the worst possible time for the British Royal House. Last January, Middleton underwent planned abdominal surgery that gave rise to a ton of theories about her actual health.

While the Royal House announced that King Charles of England was suffering from cancer and that he would withdraw from public life for a few months to treat the disease, the organization indicated that the princess wanted her personal medical information to remain private.

As Middleton has not wanted to make any type of public appearance since she left the hospital and the communications from the royal family have been opaque as far as the aristocrat’s health is concerned, thousands of followers of the heir couple to the throne of England have expressed in social networks that it could be a more serious matter. The retouched photo has further fueled theories and comments on the Internet.

The British media The Telegraph has had access to a source close to the palace, which has shared that the princess feels “very bad” for having retouched the image to try to improve it. The Mirror has collected statements from a friend of the princess who also confirm that she is very ”displeased” with the situation.