A credibility crisis How febrile online rumours were fed by inept palace PR

On Tuesday, as the crisis in Gaza continued, turmoil built in Haiti and Joe Biden and Donald Trump were being confi rmed as their parties’ presidential candidates, the White House press secretary was asked a question by a journalist that caused her, briefl y, to laugh.

- Esther Addley

“Does the White House ever digitally alter photos of the president?” Karine Jean-Pierre was asked . “Why would we digitally alter photos? Are you comparing us to what is going on in the UK?” she said. “No – that is not something that we do here.”

When Kensington Palace released an apparently candid photograph last weekend of the Princess of Wales and her children, timed to coincide with Mother’s Day, it no doubt expected the usual warm reception, perhaps with a few approving front pages.

One week on, things have not gone to plan. After multiple clumsy edits to the photo were identified, five leading photo agencies issued a “ kill notice ” of the “manipulated” image. Since then, large sections of the world’s media have been fascinated by the photograph – and what it may say about unwell Catherine – putting the royals at the centre of a crisis of credibility.

In Spain, some outlets have doubled down on claims, rubbished by the palace last month, that the princess is in a coma . On US talkshows, longstanding, libellous rumours about the royal marriage, similarly denied, are being aired in the open .