Kate Middleton is pictured leaving Windsor Castle in car with William as she heads for ‘private appointment’ – while Prince makes his way to Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey

The Princess of Wales has been pictured alongside Prince William leaving Windsor Castle today – just hours after she apologised for digitally editing a family portrait released on Mother’s Day.

The Prince of Wales was heading to Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service this afternoon with his wife beside him. 

But rather than an extraordinary return to royal duties, MailOnline understands that Kate was heading to a private appointment instead.

It is not known where the Princess of Wales was going, but it was clearly on her husband’s route into central London because he arrived alone for the 2.45pm service attended by senior royals including Queen Camilla and Princess Anne.

Kate had looked out of her window as William appeared to read some notes on his phone as they were swept out of the grounds of Windsor Castle in a blue Range Rover that later dropped William at the Abbey without her.

The mother-of-three was not expected to be seen in public until after Easter following abdominal surgery and two weeks in a private London hospital in January. Her surprise appearance came as wild online conspiracy theories swirled around the princess and her health.

It came as Kensington Palace came under increasing pressure to release the original Mother’s Day photograph after the Princess of Wales apologised after she admitted she had edited the family portrait of herself sitting with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Experts told MailOnline it was changed using Photoshop and related AI tools.

The world’s major photo agencies later ‘killed’ the picture after noticing signs of digital editing, including a missing part of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her wrist and skirt, and the positioning of Kate’s zip.

This morning the Princess of Wales gave an apology on social media. She said: ‘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’. She signed it ‘C’ – for Catherine.

PR experts have described the Mother’s Day photo fiasco as a ‘massive own goal’ and urged royal officials to release the unedited picture in a bid to regain the public’s trust. 

Kensington Palace had initially faced calls to reveal the truth behind the photo after the world’s top picture agencies – including the Press Association – ‘killed’ the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.

Kate this morning admitted she had edited the photograph and issued a personal apology ‘for any confusion’ it had caused. Sky News’ analysis of the photo’s metadata found the image was taken with a Canon camera and was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac. Other experts suggested she may have used an AI tool.

The photo of the mother-of-three beaming with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis was the first official picture released of the princess since she under went ‘planned abdominal surgery’ in January. 

While the princess publicly took the blame for altering the photo, Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the unedited photograph of Kate and her children.

PR expert Mark Borkowski said: ‘It’s plausible she’s at home playing with the computer and using an AI tool, but if they’re really going to regain any sort of trust they should release the unedited photo, it can’t be that bad if they just made a few tweaks. 

‘I find they have risen to the challenge, provided the statement as an explanation – the question is with all the conspiracy theories running around, is whether people believe it and I’m not sure they will.’

Mr Borkowski said the Mother’s Day photo had exposed a public relations problem for the monarchy: ‘That’s the issue, there doesn’t seem to be that much joined up strategic thinking at the heart of the Royal Family at the moment, which leads to these problems where it’s a very difficult organisation to manage in terms of PR.’

He added: ‘It’s a nightmare, even the softer stories of Edward turning 60 this week haven’t really resonated at all because no one’s interested in them, they’re interested in the stars they’re not interested in the supporting cast and that is a problem at the moment.

‘They are under pressure, massively under pressure, this is a massive own goal.’

Royal sources stressed this was ‘an amateur, family photograph taken by the Prince of Wales’. It’s understood it was taken in Windsor last week.

They said the couple wanted to offer an ‘informal’ picture of the family together for Mother’s Day and the princess made ‘minor adjustments’.

An aide added: ‘The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day.’

Sky News said an examination of the photo’s metadata revealed it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday and the picture was taken on a Canon 5D mark IV, which retails at £2,929.99 and used a Canon 50mm lens, priced at £1,629.99. 

The first save was made at 9.54pm on Friday night and the second was at 9.39am on Saturday morning. It is not clear if the two saves were on the same device. The Palace has not offered any further clarification about the edits.

The controversy is set to overshadow the Commonwealth Day service, one of the key royal events of the year.

Heir to the throne William and the Queen will gather with the Royal Family in Westminster Abbey today in the absence of the King, who is continuing treatment for cancer during what has been a challenging start to 2024 for the Windsors.

Graham Smith of the anti-monarchy group Republic said: ‘Kate’s statement answers no questions. We can all see the photo has been edited.

‘The question is why? Why haven’t they released the original photo?

‘A statement parsed via the press office which says nothing and explains nothing shows a general disregard for the public…’

Earlier, Kate’s uncle Gary Goldsmith defended the Waleses and claimed they would not have been responsible for altering the image.

The Celebrity Big Brother evictee said: ‘Obviously 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 broader world, but they wouldn’t be doing photoshopping themselves.’

He told Good Morning Britain: ‘The smiles on faces said it all for me, I thought it was beautiful.’ Mr Goldsmith added: ‘And this whole ‘sleevegate’ thing, just leave it alone.’

Royal author Omid Scobie, seen as a cheerleader for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, accused the Palace of having a ‘long history of lying’, and said gaining back public trust was now ‘an almost impossible task’.

Scobie wrote on X that if it was an isolated incident, it was an ‘unfortunate error’.

He added: ‘But with the Palace’s long history of lying, covering up, and even issuing statements on behalf of family members without their permission (cc: Prince Harry), it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now photo) they share.

‘Gaining that back at this point is an almost impossible task.’

The princess is known to be a keen photographer and revealed in 2021 that she takes so many family photographs that her children sometimes object.

‘Everyone’s like, ‘Mummy, please stop taking photographs’,’ she said.

It comes after PA – Britain’s most respected news agency – this morning joined AP, AFP, Reuters, Getty Images and EPA in withdrawing the photo.

The UK’s national news agency said it had been ‘seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace’ since it was released over claims it was digitally altered.

But in a sensational development this morning, PA revealed that it had now withdrawn the image ‘in the absence of that clarification’.

A spokesman for PA said: ‘Like other news agencies, PA Media issued the handout image provided by Kensington Palace of the Princess of Wales and her children in good faith yesterday.

‘We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.’

PA became the sixth news or picture agency to retract the photo. 

The image of Kate and her children, said by the palace to have been taken by Prince William, was posted on social media.

Without an official response from the palace, confusion around the image had fuelled online conspiracy theories about Kate which have swirled on the internet since her abdominal surgery.

Ahead of Kate making her statement, royal commentator Peter Hunt said: ‘This is damaging for the royals. They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate.

‘Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.’

The picture shows Kate sitting in a chair with her arms around Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are on either side of her, with Prince George standing behind, as all four smile at the camera.

But there was speculation that edits had been made to the left sleeve of Princess Charlotte’s cardigan, and other areas of the picture also raised concerns about possible manipulation.

In the social media post, Kate thanked the public ‘for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months’.

Within hours of the photo being shared around the world, multiple picture agencies issued a ‘kill notification’ – an industry term used to retract a photo previously handed out to publications.

Late on Sunday, the Associated Press became the first agency to ‘kill’ the photo over an ‘inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand’.

While AP said there was no suggestion the photo was fake, it retracted it because it said on closer inspection, the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet the agency’s photo standards. 

AP said its editorial standards state that images must be accurate and that it does not use altered or digitally manipulated images. 

The agency’s news values and principles explain that minor photo editing, including cropping and toning and colour adjustments, are acceptable when necessary for clear and accurate reproduction and should maintain the authentic nature of the photograph.

Changes in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels that substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable. Backgrounds should not be digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by aggressive toning. The removal of ‘red eye’ from photographs is not permissible.

When AP determined the photo appeared to have been manipulated, it issued what is known as a ‘photo kill,’ an industry term that retracted the image and instructed clients to remove the photo from their systems.

‘At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image,’ the AP said in its advisory. ‘No replacement photo will be sent.’

A second agency, Reuters, also withdrew the image ‘following a post-publication review’. ‘We are reviewing the matter,’ a spokesperson said.

Reuters picture editors said part of the sleeve of Kate’s daughter’s cardigan did not line up properly, suggesting that the image had been altered.

The agency could not immediately establish how, why or by whom the alteration had been made.

AfP then followed suit by issuing a ‘mandatory kill notice’ before Getty Images became the fourth agency to retract the photograph. EPA this morning also issued the same ‘mandatory kill’.

A spokesman for AfP said: ‘It has come to light that the Handout issued by Kensington Palace today of Kate and the kids had been altered, therefore it was withdrawn from AFP systems.’

A spokesman for Getty Images told Sky News: ‘Earlier today our picture desk identified a problematic image provided to Getty Images by Kensington Palace. We can confirm the image in question was removed from our site in accordance with our editorial policy.’

Readers on X added a community note to a post from the Prince and Princess of Wales’ account which shared the photo. 

It said: ‘This photo is believed to be digitally altered and as a result many major news outlets have pulled the image from their reports.’ 

The photo of the princess is the first released since she was admitted to the London Clinic, the private hospital where the King underwent treatment for an enlarged prostate, for a planned operation on January 16.

Charles, 75, visited his daughter-in-law’s bedside after being admitted himself on January 26, the 11th day of Kate’s stay.

She was also visited by her husband, William.

Kate left the hospital on January 29, almost two weeks later, and returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

Details of the princess’s condition have not been disclosed but Kensington Palace said it was not cancer-related and that Kate wished her personal medical information to remain private.

The 42-year-old future queen was last pictured in public during a Christmas Day walk in Sandringham, Norfolk.

Kate is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter, and William, 41, temporarily stepped back from his royal role to juggle caring for her and their children as she recovered.

He returned to royal duties in February and is expected to carry out an engagement linked to his Earthshot environmental prize on Monday, as well as accompanying the Queen at events to mark Commonwealth Day.

Earlier this month the Army was forced into an embarrassing about-turn after suggesting Kate would attend Trooping the Colour on June 8.

Tickets were being sold for the event, with Kate expected to attend in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards, the regiment which is trooping its colour this year.

However, it is understood the Army did not seek approval from Kensington Palace before publishing the page, and the website was subsequently updated to remove the reference to her.