London: A new photograph of UK's Prince Louis taken by his mother Kate Middleton has been released by the royal family to mark his sixth birthday. After the controversy created by a heavily edited photograph of Kate and her children on Mother's Day, the Kensington Palace has assured that this photograph has not been edited, according to BBC.
Prince William and Kate thanked the public uploaded the picture of Louis to mark the occasion, showing a close-up image of the beaming young prince. "Happy 6th Birthday, Prince Louis! Thank you for all the kind wishes today," their office Kensington Palace said on X.
The picture was taken by Kate in Windsor where the family live. Louis is the youngest of their three children, with George, aged 10, and Charlotte due to celebrate her ninth birthday next month. Kensington Palace has for some years released photographs taken by Kate, a keen amateur photographer, to mark birthdays and other family occasions.
Kate undergoing chemotherapy
This comes after Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, announced on March 22 that she was undergoing chemotherapy for an unspecified type of cancer. "My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment," said Kate. "This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family."
Kate, 42, hadn't been seen publicly since Christmas and underwent an abdominal surgery at the London Clinic in January. Kensington Palace had given little detail about Kate's condition beyond saying it wasn't cancer-related, the surgery was successful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April.
Heir to the throne William has only just returned to official duties since that announcement, and Kate herself will only return to the public spotlight when her medical team say she is well enough to do so.
Kate's 'edited photo' controversy
There had been massive speculation over Kate's health prior to the cancer revelation after the Kensington Palace announced her surgery. The Princess had not been seen in public when a photograph uploaded by the Palace was found to be "heavily edited" and retracted from international news agencies, for which Kate had to apologise.
Kate had posted a family photograph with her children, initially, all media houses had published it but later retracted citing "manipulated". Later, she admitted that the image was altered digitally and said she "occasionally experiments with editing". Reuters later confirmed that another picture taken by the Princess of Wales and uploaded by the Kensington Palace last year was edited in at least eight places. The photo was released in April last year showing the late Queen Elizabeth with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"Reuters is updating its procedures related to vetting images from Kensington Palace after confirming a second altered photograph. Consistent with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, Reuters requires that photos meet its editorial standards for image quality, accuracy and reliability," said a Reuters spokesperson.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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