The 7 key signs in Kate’s Royal Family photograph that revealed it was edited

Kensington Palace has been forced to issue an apology after the first released image of the Princess of Wales since she underwent abdominal surgery was digitally edited.

The image of Kate and her children, said by the Palace to have been taken by the Prince of Wales, was posted on social media on Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day.

But rather than quelling ongoing speculation about the Princess’s wellbeing, it raised further questions about the authenticity of the photo.

A number of international picture agencies, including Associated Press, Press Association and Getty, withdrew the image soon after it was released because of concerns it had been manipulated.

Kensington Palace has issued a fresh statement in which the Princess of Wales admitted she “occasionally experiments with editing”.

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. C”

Here are the anomalies in the photograph which sparked speculation over its authenticity.

Princess Charlotte’s left sleeve

In the image, the wrist opening of Princess Charlotte’s pink cardigan on the left arm does not appear to match up correctly.

Josh Caius, a corporate event photographer, told i he does not think this section of the photograph was intended to “fool anybody”.

“I can see that on [Charlotte’s] left arm, her sleeve has been composited with two different photos because at the opening of the sleeve there is some kind of merging with possibly a previous shot,” he said.

Mr Caius added that some mobile phone apps will automatically do this to produce the best image from a burst of photos taken.

“Some phone apps can merge multiple images together to get the best photo”, he said. “It is just going to choose the sharpest section from a burst of images.”

Blurring on Kate’s right hand and hair

The Princess of Wales’ right hand, which is holding Prince Louis by the waist, appears to be blurred, as does the right-hand side of her hair. This sparked suggestions a filter may have been used.

Mr Caius said the blurring of an image could be due to a change in resolution. “It could be something to do with re-sizing of the photo. This can create different levels of sharpness,” he told i.

The pattern of Princess Charlotte’s skirt

Princess Charlotte is wearing a plaid skirt in the photograph – but it appears to be disconnected from the edge of her pink cardigan, where the two should meet.

Instead, the skirt seems to gape next to her older brother Prince George’s left hand, and is out of line with the rest of the garment.

Inconsistency in Kate’s jacket zip

The Princess of Wales, 42, is wearing black zip-up jacket in the photograph. However, the top left-hand side of the zip seems to be slightly lighter in colour than the rest of it further down.

And the two sections of the zip, above and below Prince George’s clasped hands around her, also appear to be misaligned.

The wall next to Prince Louis

The white wall next to Prince Louis’s legs, as he stands to the side of the Princess of Wales, appears to be disconnected with the baseline mismatched – as if two images had been merged.

Foliage in the background

Other social media users also flagged that the trees in the background appear to have late autumn foliage, suggesting the photo was not taken recently as we approach spring.