As an object lesson in how to feed conspiracy theorists while trying to see them off, the Princess of Wales’s Mothers’ Day photograph of herself and her three children could hardly be bettered. For weeks since the sudden announcement that she was to undergo abdominal surgery in January, the internet has been buzzing with speculation as to the nature of her undisclosed condition, along with hints that it could all be a lot more serious than the official royal news sources were making out. The fact that the original announcement coincided with the King’s own health problems – an enlarged prostate, followed by the discovery of some form of cancer – has merely added to the speculation.

This is a case of cock-up rather than conspiracy

Surely, the release of a family snap showing a beaming Princess with her three children would put a stop to it all? Alas, not when it turned out that the photograph had been manipulated. The Princess’ own clumsy, self-confessed attempts at editing the photograph may be innocent enough, but they feed into a long history of efforts by less-than-candid regimes to misrepresent the health of public figures. It is all too easy to look at the discontinuous zip on the Princess’ jacket and her daughter’s jagged wrist and remember the crude footage of a stricken Konstantin Chernenko shuffling to a ballot box days before his death in 1985, or more recent efforts by North Korea to present Kim Jong Un as being in the best of health.

The numerous conspiracy theories surrounding this week’s royal photograph can quickly be dismissed. No, the presence of a green-leaved bush in the background do not indicate that the photograph was taken months ago. After a mild winter, gardens in southern England are brimming with such foliage. Nor has the Princess’ face been lifted from the cover of an eight year old issue of Vogue. This is a case of cock-up rather than conspiracy, and one which has been committed with the best of intentions. It is a case of the royal family trying to behave like any other family: taking their own snaps. Had they hired a professional photographer to produce a perfect image they would have been criticised for aloofness – in the same way that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are frequently attacked for their slick PR operation.

What this week’s events do reveal, however, is that the public does not appreciate being misled, even in a minor, innocuous-seeming fashion. Photographs which are seen to have been manipulated arouse particular suspicion given the problem of deepfake images and videos produced by artificial intelligence. The Prince and Princess of Wales may be forgiven for failing to foresee the fallout from a crudely-photoshopped image, but the press operation at Kensington Palace ought to have been smarter and prevented the dissemination of the image.

The irony is that there was no need for the Palace to have been defensive over rumours about the Princess of Wales’s health. The royal press office had not tried to cover up her operation in January; it had released all the information which needed to be known: that the Princess had undergone abdominal surgery for a serious condition and would not be appearing in public for some weeks as she recuperated. The public did not need to be fed further details, which quite rightly lie within the royal family’s private realm. Nor did the Princess need to be presented to the public in order to convince us that she is still alive, because no-one was seriously suggesting that she wasn’t. There is no reason, either, to believe that her recovery is not going according to plan: the original press release announcing the Princess’ condition clearly stated that she would be unlikely to return to official duties until after Easter. The tittle-tattle could quite happily have been left where it belongs, in the bowels of the internet.

A strategy of providing the bare minimum of information served Elizabeth II well

The late Queen’s brilliant reaction to the allegations made in Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Harry and Meghan – containing the line ‘recollections may vary’ – showed the power of brevity in royal communications. It stated what needed to be said and absolutely no more. A strategy of providing the bare minimum of information, at exactly the right time, served Elizabeth II extremely well throughout her seven decade reign. Those who represent the current working royals should learn from it, and emulate it.

Following the ructions caused by the Duke and Duchess’ departure as working royals, the end of one reign and the beginning of another, it was to be hoped that the royal family’s communication structures might settle down into a calmer and more straightforward era. Happily, declining interest in the brickbats lobbed from Montecito has reduced the need for defensive reaction. Nevertheless, something is not quite working in royal circles at present. Illness, combined with a shrunken pool of working royals, has left personnel a little thin on the ground. What might have been expected to be a period of rejuvenation with the advent of a new monarch has instead turned out to be a time of royal retreat.

We can all hope that the King and the Princess of Wales will quickly be restored to health and able to recommence a fuller schedule of engagements. But in the meantime it would help if royal communications staff could avoid own-goals such as the decision to release a doctored photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children. The release of private photographs, in itself, has been a good thing, helping to reduce the appetite for paparazzi images. But it would benefit the monarchy if its Photoshop account could be closed down for good.