Kate Middleton's whereabouts became a trending topic when Prince William continued to attend royal engagements without his wife, as she has been recovering from surgery. Despite Kensington Palace announcing that the Princess of Wales wouldn't return to her role until the spring, an insider recently confirmed when Kate will actually begin working again.
"The rumor mill — particularly on social media — has gotten out of control, but Kate is recovering well and she will be back by Easter. She just needs to be left in peace," the insider told an outlet.
According to the source, Kate is under "an awful lot of scrutiny" after returning to Instagram with a poorly edited image.
Royal expert Jennie Bond warned that the public's response to Kate posting a "manipulated'' photo is a threat to her healing process.
"We are in danger of bullying a lady who is trying to recover from a very serious operation. I think of how she must be feeling this morning. Absolutely miserable, I think," Bond told an outlet.
"Her Mother's Day was obviously ruined by this row. She was photographed yesterday in the car with William," she continued. "From what we can see, she didn't look that happy, she must feel under intense pressure now whenever she's going to be seen in public."
OK! previously reported Kate's public apology for the blunder wasn't well-received by anti-monarchist Graham Smith.
“Kate’s statement answers no questions. We can all see the photo has been edited,” Smith siad. "The question is why? Why haven’t they released the original photo? A statement parsed via the press office of Prince William which says nothing and explains nothing shows a general disregard for the public."
Royalist Michael Cole stressed that The Firm's approach to Kate's condition will impact the monarchy's reputation.
“Kensington Palace must now come up with a full and plausible explanation of how and why this cack-handed attempt at media manipulation came about,” Cole explained. “Otherwise, there is a danger of permanent damage to the credibility of the royal family.”
A source close to the Princess of Wales revealed her team knows about critics' commentary.
"The palace will be under increasing pressure today to explain the situation," a source told an outlet.
"On one hand it (Kensington Palace) has made a public statement about the 'madness of social media' and on the other, they have added to the issue by directly issuing what appears to be an edited image," the insider continued.
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Shortly after Kate's Instagram followers began to notice the family pic's alterations, several news platforms announced they would "kill" it.
“Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday," a spokesperson for the U.K.’s national news agency said.
“We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service," they added.
Insiders spoke to Page Six.
Bond spoke to GB News.