Royal Photo Scandal Dominates – Paper Talk 

Editorial Tuesday 12 March 2024. 

The edited photo of the Princess of Wales and her children continues to dominate the papers. Yesterday, Princess Kate acknowledged she had altered the Mother’s Day image after four international agencies ordered ‘kill notices’ over the picture – meaning they told media not to use the image over fears of it being doctored. 

The Princess put her photoshopping fails down to being an amateur photographer who was experimenting with photo editing. 

Away from the royals, there are various stories on the front pages. 

‘Royal Photo Scandal – Princess Kate embarrassed’

Most of the papers that continue the coverage of the royal photo are tabloid newspapers, leaning right and fairly pro-royal. Most insist the backlash to the princess has been over the top. 

The Daily Mail asks “How did Kate’s photo become a PR disaster?” saying the admission she had altered the image was an “extraordinary mea culpa.” The Sun says “lay off Kate” saying she has been very sad at the backlash. 

The Palace has refused to release the original image. 

The Daily Mirror argues that publishing the original “might go some way to dampening wild speculation,” while the Daily Star says her “heinous crime” was just “being pretty dodgy at Photoshop”. And the Telegraph has a cartoon of a group wakeboarding behind the Loch Ness monster above a caption that reads: “Royals release photo of holiday in Scotland”.

The Metro says the whole episode has caused a “row over trust in the royals.” 

‘BoJo to return to the campaign’

The Times says sources have told them that the former prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to play a significant role in the Tory Party’s general election campaign. The source tells the paper that relations between Johnson and Sunak are now “in a fairly good place.” The paper says David Cameron will also be “deployed widely” in the run-up to polling day. 

The Telegraph leads on plans for new gas power stations set to be announced today. The stations will be paid for through household energy bills, though the paper adds that the government says the plan will ultimately save homes £45 a year on their electricity costs. PM Sunak writes in the paper that “increasing gas capacity is the insurance policy Britain needs to deliver net zero”.

The Guardian leads with a report alleging that the Conservative Party’s biggest donor told a meeting that looking at MP Diane Abbot made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot.” The paper says Frank Hester, a businessman who runs the healthcare technology firm Phoenix Partnership (TPP), made the remarks in 2019. 

In a statement, the firm says Mr Hester “accepts he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting” but abhors racism and maintains that “his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of her skin”.

In other political news, the i newspaper says the introduction of the British ISA – announced in last week’s Budget – will be delayed until after the general election. The policy would allow savers to invest £5,000 a year in the UK stock market tax-free. The paper says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt wanted to introduce it immediately but that the Treasury concluded it was too expensive to do this year. The paper adds that Labour has not committed to the policy and speculates that it may never happen at all.