UK Royals Face Questions Over Altered Princess Of Wales Image

Britain's royal family faced mounting pressure on Monday to explain how an official photo of Catherine, Princess of Wales had been altered, after AFP and other agencies withdrew the image.

Kate, 42, has not been seen in public since attending a Christmas Day church service, and underwent abdominal surgery in January, fuelling speculation about her health, particularly online.

Her Kensington Palace office on Sunday sought to dispel rumours by distributing an official photograph said to have been taken by her husband Prince William of her with their three children.

But questions quickly emerged of the Mother's Day portrait of a smiling Kate, casually dressed and seated in a garden chair, surrounded by Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Closer examination showed specifically that Charlotte's left hand was misaligned with the sleeve of her cardigan.

AFP, Getty, the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters all have policies about distributing manipulated images, and pulled it, despite initially publishing the photograph provided by Kensington Palace.

"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to light that the handout issued by Kensington Palace today of Kate and the kids had been altered, therefore it was withdrawn from AFP systems," the agency said in a note to clients.

The AP said it had retracted the image because on "closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards". Reuters said similar.