A week after Catherine, the Princess of Wales, apologised for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, a second photograph — taken in August 2022 and features the late Queen Elizabeth II — is in the spotlight for having undergone a similar treatment. The first photo attracted “kill” notices from photo agencies, sparking a huge wave of commentary, while the latest photo has been annotated by Getty Images.

We forget that “photoshopping” is a popular trait among the British royalty. Consider the painting ‘The Family of Henry VIII’ from 1545. In the painting, we see Henry VIII flanked by his third wife, Jane Seymour, and the couple’s son Prince Edward, later Edward VI. On the left is Princess Mary, later Mary I, the king’s daughter by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and on the right Princess Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I, his daughter by his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Here’s the problem: Jane Seymour died two weeks after giving birth to Edward VI, and would not have been alive to sit for this painting. The artist (unknown) copied the face of Seymour from Hans Holbein’s Whitehall Mural.

Three versions of a portrait of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, by photographer Cecil Beaton show different degrees of retouching. From left: heavily retouched, the original and the lightly retouched version that was approved Picture: Cecil Beaton/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Let’s roll the years. Queen Victoria was interested in photography, which was at a nascent stage. She is known to have “edited” her photos. As the Royal Collection Trust (RCT) shows, in 1852, daguerreotype was created on a silver copper plate. So how did she “edit”? She scratched herself out of the photo. “The Queen perceived it to be an unflattering image of herself because her eyes were closed, but she spared the images of her children,” RCT notes. This can be seen in her image with her five eldest children: Princess Victoria; Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; Princess Alice; Princess Helena and Prince Alfred. She wrote in her journal: “Went back to the Gardens, where a daguerreotype by Mr. Kilburn was taken of me & 5 of the children. The day was splendid for it. Mine was unfortunately horrid, but the children’s were pretty.”

Looking for more examples? When London’s Victoria and Albert Museum mounted an exhibit of Cecil Beaton’s work in conjunction with Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, curator Susanna Brown said in a video: “The final images which visitors will see in the exhibition have all been very heavily retouched.... Often Beaton would advise his retouchers to slim the waistlines of the sitters or perhaps remove a double chin. But these details were very important in constructing an idealised image. These aren’t documentary shots. They’re a much more romantic style of portraiture, in which no hair is out of place and every detail is perfect.”

Closer to our times, the British royal family’s 2023 holiday season portrait had something off about it: Prince Louis was missing a middle finger. Saturday Night Live show got a kick out of it with anchor Colin Jost joking: “Meghan Markle said she has a finger they can use if they need it.”

‘The Family of Henry VIII’ (oil on canvas) from 1545

The 2022 photograph that is now being examined was released by Buckingham Palace on April 21 last year to mark what would have been the late queen’s 97th birthday. It shows Elizabeth surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A spokesperson for Getty said: “Getty Images has reviewed the image in question and placed an editor’s note on it, stating that the image has been digitally enhanced at source.”