WHOOPI Goldberg has defended Catherine, Princess of Wales over her edited Mother’s Day photo.
The 42-year-old royal - who has been married to Prince William since 2011 - shared a photo of herself and her children Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis in a surprise media appearance amid her absence from royal duties following abdominal surgery but was quickly accused of having manipulated the picture and now ‘Sister Act’ star Whoopi, 68, has spoken out in her defence.
Speaking on ‘The View’, she said: “I’m sorry, I know very few people who don’t manipulate their own photos. “I mean all you gotta do is swipe. You know what, I have to tell you. She may be the future queen, [but] she’s still an amateur photographer. That’s what they do!”
The image was withdrawn from circulation by a number of picture agencies amid concerns it had been altered - and Catherine has now said sorry and admitted she “occasionally” dabbles with “editing” her snaps.
A statement released by the Princess explained: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C. “
It was the first official picture of the royal since she underwent surgery in January and stepped away from the spotlight during her recovery.
The row focused on a number of alleged changes including the depiction of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve amid claims the young royal’s arm looked misaligned in the picture.
Catherine’s apology came after her uncle Gary Goldsmith insisted the royal family don’t edit or add filters to any of their own pictures.
The 59-year-old businessman opened up about the row during an appearance on ‘Good Morning Britain’ on Monday after host Susanna Reid asked him: “Does anything about it [the picture] strike you as odd?”
Gary replied: “The smiles on faces said it all for me, I thought it was beautiful.”
He added: “The family wouldn’t be the ones to do any touch ups, so if that’s gone through some filter before it’s gone out to the wider world. But they wouldn’t be doing the Photoshopping themselves.
“All I was looking at was the faces and smiles, and they just looked like a beautiful family, that they are, and it looked genuine, just the smiles on faces.”
The princess underwent surgery in January and Kensington Palace previously confirmed she’s unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.
