MAUREEN CALLAHAN: How COULD William let stricken Kate take the fall for this ugly photoshop scandal? She’s globally humiliated… and now the Sussex trolls are adding to her pain

How could the palace let Kate blame it?

Not since the moon landing have there been so many conspiracies surrounding the authenticity of a photo.

A simple family photo of Kate with her children, intended to quiet rumors about her health and character, has been revealed as a fake, a fraud, a Frankenstein.

It’s the most epic Photoshop fail of the century. It is also the biggest PR blunder for the royals in years.

Hours after its publication, news agencies around the world announced they were removing the photo because it was clearly not authentic – sixteen errors and counting.

And far from quelling rumors about Kate’s health, concerns have only been fueled by what the photo’s inauthenticity might suggest: that she is so ill, she has unedited photo was not an option.

Rather than quashing rumors about Kate’s health, concerns have only been fueled by what the photo’s inauthenticity might suggest: that she is so ill that releasing an unedited photo wasn’t an option.

Worst of all, it gave the Montecito Miserables cheerleaders an opening that they exploited in the most unsavory way.

Meghan, don’t you know, that could never happen.

“This is not a mistake Meghan would ever make,” a source close to the Sussexes told Page Six.

Their stenographer Omid Scobie gave his unsolicited opinion on social media.

“The long history of lying and cover-up at the Palace makes it increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now a photo) they share,” he wrote.

Scobie further claimed that regaining the trust of the press and public, damaged by this photoshop failure, would be ‘an almost impossible task’.

The melodrama! As if Harry and Meghan are examples of trust and integrity.

Dear Lord.

Even as Kate suffers, this fierce battle of transatlantic one-upmanship continues.

What made this mess worse was the apology issued on Monday – by Kate!

She fell on her sword and wrote a post that minimized her skills and made her sound like a hesitant, foolish woman instead of the worthy future queen that she is.

“Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with photo editing,” she wrote.

Let’s unpack that first line, shall we? Kate studied art history. She has been her family’s unofficial resident photographer since her first child was born ten years ago.

It’s safe to assume that Kate understands composition, lighting, color theory and the like. But here she is reduced to calling herself just an ‘amateur’ who ‘experimented’, and a bad one at that.

“I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused,” she continued.

Note: ‘we’. She didn’t do this alone. A release like this goes through many layers, through aides and private secretaries, and perhaps even the King.

Worst of all, it gave the Montecito Miserables cheerleaders an opening that they exploited in the most unsavory way. “This is not a mistake Meghan would ever make,” a source close to the Sussexes told Page Six.

Their stenographer Omid Scobie gave his unsolicited opinion on social media, claiming that regaining the trust of the press and public, damaged by this photoshop fail, would be ‘an almost impossible task’. The melodrama! As if Harry and Meghan are examples of trust and integrity.

What made this mess worse was the apology issued on Monday – by Kate! She fell on her sword and wrote a post that minimized her skills and made her sound like a hesitant, foolish woman instead of the worthy future queen that she is.

It seems to me that someone should have – should have advised against releasing a fake image. It also seems to me that this extremely bad idea could only have been implemented by someone who can never be said ‘no’ to.

So: where is Prince William?

Why not He take the blame?

After all, this photo was taken by him.

Even if no one believed he was the one behind that bad photoshop – most of us certainly don’t believe it was Kate, who was too ill to drive or, according to William, even watch this year’s BAFTA-nominated films – he would have deserved the world title. respect for the fact that he stood in front of his wife and took the blows.

Instead, he remains silent.

Instead, Kate was dragged outside yesterday, photographed sitting next to her husband in the back of a car, her face turned away from the camera and towards a brick wall.

That act seemed like a challenge to me.

Kate has hardly put a wrong step. She signed up for the job and has never shown anything but good cheer towards her duties.

She stood in front of the media hours after giving birth and looked fantastic.

But she clearly refused to participate in this photo, which was probably designed to magnify the “amateur” photo that has shocked the world.

As she should.

No one believes that Kate alone created this mess. Why should she have to give up more of her privacy, at an obviously vulnerable moment, to right a wrong her husband should never have allowed?

After all, William has a pretty sophisticated understanding of how the media works. It’s ingrained in his destiny, shaped by a mother who constantly manipulated the media.

There was no reason for Kate and William to travel together on Monday. Her car actually drove behind him.

He was on his way to a Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey and she was going to a private appointment – an appointment that would have been much more private had she not gone with him in that Range Rover.

Meanwhile, royal sources push the insulting, patronizing narrative that poor, misguided Kate just didn’t understand what she was doing. And in addition to being physically ill, Kate is now said to be distraught at having single-handedly caused such a disruption.

“Terrible” was how Kate felt about this, a royal source told the Telegraph. Her intention was only to make the image ‘as good as possible’, but now she believes that honesty is the ‘best policy’ and that she must ‘take personal responsibility’.

It makes Kate sound like a dumbass. And there’s also a hint of misogyny here: the little woman who did her best, but made a mess of it.

Where is Prince William? Why didn’t he take the blame? Instead, Kate was dragged outside yesterday, photographed sitting next to her husband in the back of a car, her face turned away from the camera and towards a brick wall. That act seemed like a challenge to me.

Can anyone imagine Charles blaming Camilla in this way?

If William and Kate’s older children don’t see this controversy online, they’re sure to hear about it at school: that their sick mother is to blame.

This is a shame.

Kate is the future of the Crown. She is the Windsors’ most dazzling asset, someone who commands global goodwill.

If the thought was that her popularity meant she could afford to take responsibility – wow. What an ultimate miscalculation.

The photo’s metadata shows that it was saved twice in Adobe Photoshop – highly sophisticated software that an ‘amateur’ like Kate certainly wouldn’t be able to navigate.

The first saved version had a timestamp of 9:54 PM on Friday, March 8.

Does anyone think sick Kate was really awake at 10pm playing?

In a rare 2020 interview, Kate opened up about her approach to photography. Spoiler alert: something is wrong with this highly edited family photo.

“One of the great things about photography is that it really captures that moment, so it’s not a backdrop, it’s not a perfect setting,” she said. ‘You don’t tidy up your house, so you have the perfect studio setup. But it really captures those moments that feel real to you.”

Kate has always given us, if not her real self, her best self.

Above all, William should understand how difficult that is.

In her hour of need, it is up to the future king – and not his sick wife – to solve this.