What the royals must learn from Kate’s photo blunder

As an object lesson in how to feed conspiracy theorists while trying to see them off, the Princess of Wales’s Mothers’ Day photograph of herself and her three children could hardly be bettered. For weeks since the sudden announcement that she was to undergo abdominal surgery in January, the internet has been buzzing with speculation as to the nature of her undisclosed condition, along with hints that it could all be a lot more serious than the official royal news sources were making out. The fact that the original announcement coincided with the King’s own health problems – an enlarged prostate, followed by the discovery of some form of cancer – has merely added to the speculation.

Surely, the release of a family snap showing a beaming Princess with her three children would put a stop to it all? Alas, not when it turned out that the photograph had been manipulated.