Palace Under Pressure To Release Kate Middleton's Unedited Mother's Day Pic To Regain Public's Trust

Amid heightened scrutiny of the Royal Family, experts have offered a solution to Kate Middleton's Mother's Day Photoshop fiasco.

Kensington Palace had earlier released an edited picture of the senior royal for the celebration, but it was quickly removed from news outlets after it was discovered that it had been photoshopped.

Since then, the royal household has faced increasing pressure to release the original photo. Experts believe that this is the only solution to the controversy that can help regain the public's trust.

Since Kate went under the knife for a "planned abdominal surgery" in January, she has yet to make any public appearances with regards to her royal duties.

However, for the Mother's Day celebration, Kensington released a picture of her with her children, which turned out to be photoshopped. Kate has since apologized for the fiasco after it was pulled off a major news site.

Despite this move, calls have been made for the original photo to be released, which experts now support as the only solution to the controversy.

"Kate's statement answers no questions. We can all see the photo has been edited," Graham Smith of the anti-monarchy group Republic said, per the Daily Mail.

He added, "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…"

"Kensington Palace must now come up with a full and plausible explanation of how and why this cack-handed attempt at media manipulation came about," former journalist Michael Cole said. "Otherwise, there is a danger of permanent damage to the credibility of the royal family."

Kate's apology to the public came via a social media post in which she tried to make light of the incident.

"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," she wrote.

Her remarks were backed by sources close to the royal household, who insisted that it was just "an amateur, family photograph taken by the Prince of Wales, [William.]"

They also confirmed that Kate only made "minor adjustments," just as she claimed in her statement on social media.

Additional support came from Kate's uncle, Gary Goldsmith, who claimed that the Wales family weren't really the ones who did the Photoshop.

"Obviously, the family wouldn't be the ones to do any touch-ups," he said. "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."

Following the photo fiasco, Kate was pictured alongside Prince William leaving Windsor Castle in a blue Range Rover.

In a photo of the duo, the Princess of Wales is observed staring out of her side window while her husband appears to be looking through his phone.

The outing made many speculate that Kate could be making a surprise return to her royal duties. However, the Prince of Wales was dropped off alone at Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service, suggesting that Kate went for a private appointment.

Kate is believed to be keen to "move the story on," hence the outing. However, this seems unlikely, given that the palace has said it won't be releasing the unedited photo.

Kate has been away from her royal duties since January after undergoing abdominal surgery at a private hospital on January 16. After the operation, she stayed for two more weeks at the hospital to recuperate before returning to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

Kensington Palace has kept quiet about the details of the princess' condition in honor of her decision to keep it private. However, they have revealed that it was not induced by cancer.

While Kate recovered, William temporarily stepped back from his duties to tend to her and their children. He made a comeback in February due to pending engagements. However, Kate is not expected to return until at least after Easter.