As Kate-gate went nuclear on Tuesday, Kate - or at least someone with the same type hair and body shape, but facing away from photographers, was spotted in a car with Prince William.
Royal commentator Richard Palmer observed on twitter: It’s interesting too that the BBC and other broadcasters as well as newspaper websites have used this car shot when no major UK media organisation used one a few days ago.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams commented that this "sudden appearance" was not the appropriate response to the controversy over the edited image released to commemorate Mother's Day. He remarked, "When journalists expressed a desire to 'see' Catherine, no one, as far as I understand, meant it in this manner. A sudden appearance, as she has just made, is a knee-jerk reaction lacking the dignity expected of royals."
"This matter has also overshadowed Commonwealth Day. There should never have been a period of two and a half months where she appeared to disappear; we should have occasionally felt connected while she maintained her privacy."
"William and Catherine are facing tremendous pressure, particularly difficult considering her recent illness. However, the error of editing the photograph, though highly embarrassing, is not a major catastrophe."
In the latest version of the timeline, we’re told Kate sent the photo to her team on Saturday. A plan was then put in place to release the photo on Sunday at 9am along with a message, Insiders told The Times Kate was 'thinking of her own children when editing the picture, hoping that they looked good for their own sakes'.
Royal writer R.S. Locke tweeted; Sky News has also analyzed the metadata and reached a similar conclusion as the Telegraph with one exception. The Telegraph assumes that the photo was taken last Friday because that’s the first date it was saved on Photoshop. Sky News states that the date is UNKNOWN.