Kensington Palace has declined to release the original unedited Mother’s Day photograph depicting the Princess of Wales and her three children.

To mark Mothering Sunday, the palace released a picture on social media. However, it later emerged that it has been edited by the Princess of Wales herself.

On Monday, she apologised, saying: “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.”

However, Kensington Palace has declined to publish the original photograph.

There is no suggestion that the Princess Of Wales or her health were in any way misrepresented in the edited images.

On Sunday evening, four of the biggest news agencies in the world: Associated Press, Reuters, AFP and Getty have issued a ‘kill notice’ to their clients.

This is an order for them to remove the photograph from their news reports, with the agency saying the photo has been ‘manipulated’.

In an alert to their client base, Associated Press said: “At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image.”

They order news websites to “please remove it from all platforms, including social, where it may still be visible.”

The photo was taken earlier in the week in Windsor, with Prince William capturing the moment on his camera.

Catherine underwent major abdominal surgery in January and, after a two week hospital stay, returned home. Kensington Palace announced at the time that Her Royal Highness would need at least two months of recuperation at home before returning to public duties.