Kate Middleton's cancer announcement video "may not adhere" to Getty Images' editorial policy

The Princess of Wales announced she had cancer in a video released March 22

By Nardos Haile

Staff Writer

Published April 2, 2024 3:47PM (EDT)

A view of breaking news on television is announced that Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton is diagnosed with cancer and receive treatment in London, United Kingdom on March 22, 2024. (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A view of breaking news on television is announced that Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton is diagnosed with cancer and receive treatment in London, United Kingdom on March 22, 2024. (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Kate Middleton and the royal family are still under scrutiny after a digitally altered photo snowballed into a credibility scandal haunting Kensington Palace. Following the scrutiny and swirling conspiracy theories, the palace recorded a video of the Princess of Wales revealing a shocking cancer diagnosis.

However, that video, released on March 22 and recorded by BBC Studios, has received an editor's note from the photography archive, Getty Images. In the caption of the two-minute-long video, Getty Images has placed a disclaimer that states, "This Handout clip was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy."

On Tuesday, a Getty Images spokesperson told People Magazine, "Getty Images includes a standard editor's note to handout content provided by third party organizations."

People reported that Getty cited that the footage is credited to both BBC Studios and Kensington Palace. This flagging of palace photos and videos is a new move from news and photo agencies and a sign of growing mistrust of information provided by the royal family. These same agencies issued a wide-scale distribution stoppage because of the digitally altered photo of Middleton and her children last month. The Associated Press said, “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.” Agence France-Presse also stated that Kensington Palace is no longer a "trusted source."

Kensington Palace addressed the photo scandal by posting a statement from Middleton: "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."


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