Kate Middleton's 'photoshop' controversy makes things worse: Royal expert

Kate Middleton's recent controversy escalated the concerns around her post-surgery state even more.

After several photo agencies revealed that the recent photo of Princess of Wales, posing alongside her children, on Mother’s Day was “manipulated,” a top PR expert in London tells PEOPLE that it made the situation "even worse."

Speaking to the outlet, Mark Borkowski said the controversy is “damning,” and added, “Now some people are asking if it is all generated by AI or is it a Photoshop of a photo taken. It’s not something you'd want the royal brand to be aligned with.”

His comment comes following Kate’s apologetic statement in which 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."

Another insider from the palace told the publication that the situation is not a big deal.

“It’s a bump in the road, it's not an earthquake,” they stated.

"Kate has apologized and graciously so. She has done something that 99% of us do — and we don’t have the scrutiny that they do,” the source added.