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Days after Kensington Palace admitted that a photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children had been digitally altered, touching off new rounds of conspiracy-tinged speculation about her whereabouts and well-being, the White House has declared that it is officially staying out of the matter.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary, stated to journalists on Wednesday that she would not be addressing the issue of Kate’s supposed photo manipulation abilities with President Joe Biden.
While travelling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Air Force One, Ms Jean-Pierre was questioned about communication with the British government regarding the Princess, on behalf of Mr Biden and his team.
She responded, “I have not had a conversation with the president regarding Kate Middleton.”
Following a short break, the White House representative stated that the Princess was “in the process of recovering” and assured that the administration would honor her privacy by not disturbing her.
She expressed a desire for privacy. Her relatives also requested privacy, and we will honor that request.
The last time the Princess of Wales was seen in public was when she went to church with her husband, Prince William, and their three children at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk for a royal family event.
Kensington Palace announced on January 17th that she will be having scheduled abdominal surgery and will not participate in any public events until Easter.
After twelve days, the palace released a new statement confirming that the princess had gone back to her home at Windsor Castle and was making positive strides in her recuperation. One month later, on the 29th of February, the palace restated their previous announcement, stating that they would only provide important updates on her well-being.
However, on March 10th, the photo was released in honor of Mother’s Day in Britain. This sparked excitement among those who follow the royal family and amateur detectives when it was revealed that the photo had been edited using digital technology.
The palace issued a statement in which the princess accepted responsibility for the poor photoshop job, stating: “As an amateur photographer, I sometimes like to play around with editing. I would like to apologize for any confusion that may have been caused by the family photo we shared yesterday.”
On Wednesday, Ms. Jean-Pierre was questioned about the controversy for the second day in a row during her Air Force One interview with the reporter.
On Tuesday, she told reporters at the daily White House press briefing that the Biden administration does not manipulate official photographs of the president.
Following her being posed the inquiry, her response was: “My answer would be negative. What reasons do we have to digitally manipulate images? Are you drawing parallels between us and the situation in the United Kingdom?”
The reporter argued for the importance of the question, citing the subject as a “world leader.” Ms Jean-Pierre restated her previous response.
She stated, “That is not within our scope of actions.”
Source: independent.co.uk
