MAUREEN CALLAHAN: How COULD William let stricken Kate take the fall for this ugly photoshop scandal? She's globally humiliated... and now the Sussex trolls are adding to her pain

How could the Palace let Kate take the fall?

Not since the moon landing have there been so many conspiracies swirling around a photograph's authenticity.

A simple family shot of Kate with her children, meant to quiet rumors about her health and disposition, has been revealed as a fake, a fraud, a Frankenstein.

It's the most epic photoshop fail of the century. It's also the biggest PR blunder for the royals in years.

Hours after its release, news agencies around the world announced they were killing the photo because it was clearly inauthentic — 16 errors and counting.

And instead of quashing rumors about Kate's health, concerns have only been inflamed by what the photo's inauthenticity might suggest: That she is so unwell, releasing an unedited picture wasn't an option.

Not since the moon landing have there been so many conspiracies swirling around a photograph's authenticity. A simple family shot of Kate with her children, meant to quiet rumors about her health and disposition, has been revealed as a fake, a fraud, a Frankenstein.

Instead of quashing rumors about Kate's health, concerns have only been inflamed by what the photo's inauthenticity might suggest: That she is so unwell, releasing an unedited picture wasn't an option.

Worst of all, it gave cheerleaders for the Miserables of Montecito an opening that they most distastefully took.

Meghan, don't you know, could never.

'This isn't a mistake Meghan would ever make,' a source close to the Sussexes told Page Six.

Their stenographer Omid Scobie offered his unsolicited opinion on social media.

'With the Palace's long history of lying, covering up… it's becoming increasingly difficult for the public to believe a word (and now photo) they share', he wrote.

Scobie went on to claim that regaining the trust of press and public, broken by this photoshop fail, would be 'an almost impossible task'.

The melodrama! As if Harry and Meghan are paragons of trust and integrity.

Dear lord.

Even as Kate suffers, this bitchy battle of transatlantic one-upmanship continues.

Compounding this mess was the apology issued on Monday — by Kate!

She fell on her sword, writing a message minimizing her skillset and making her sound like a dithering, silly woman rather than the dignified future queen she is.

'Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with photo editing,' she wrote.

Let's unpack that first line, shall we? Kate was an art history graduate. She has been her family's unofficial in-house photographer since her first child was born ten years ago.

It's safe to assume that Kate understands composition, lighting, color theory and the like. But she is reduced here to calling herself a mere 'amateur' who 'experimented', and poorly at that.

'I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,' she continued.

Note that 'we'. She didn't do this alone. A release such as this goes through many layers, through aides and private secretaries, and perhaps even the King.

Worst of all, it gave cheerleaders for the Miserables of Montecito an opening that they most distastefully took. 'This isn't a mistake Meghan would ever make,' a source close to the Sussexes told Page Six.

Their stenographer Omid Scobie offered his unsolicited opinion on social media, claiming that regaining the trust of press and public, broken by this photoshop fail, would be 'an almost impossible task'. The melodrama! As if Harry and Meghan are paragons of trust and integrity.

Compounding this mess was the apology issued on Monday - by Kate! She fell on her sword, writing a message minimizing her skillset and making her sound like a dithering, silly woman rather than the dignified future queen she is.

It seems to me that someone would – should – have advised against releasing a fake image. It also seems to me that this supremely bad idea could only have been executed by someone who can never be told 'no'.

So: Just where is Prince William?

Why didn't he take the blame?

This photo, after all, was taken by him.

Even if no one believed he was the one behind the shoddy photoshop — most of us sure don't believe it was Kate, too unwell to drive or, per William, even watch this year's BAFTA-nominated films — he would have earned the world's respect for standing in front of his wife and taking the blows.

Instead, he remains quiet.

Instead, Kate was dragged out yesterday, photographed sitting next to her husband in the back of a car, her face turned away from the camera and towards a brick wall.

That act read as defiance to me.

Kate has scarcely put a foot wrong. She signed up for the job and has never exhibited anything but good cheer towards her duties.

She has stood before the media hours after giving birth, looking smashing.

But she clearly refused to play along for this photo op, one arguably designed to bigfoot the 'amateur' photograph that has sent the world reeling.

As she should.

No one believes Kate alone architected this mess. Why should she have to give up more of her privacy, at what is clearly a vulnerable time, to correct a mistake her husband never should have allowed?

William, after all, has quite a sophisticated understanding of how the media works. It is baked into his destiny, shaped by a mother who manipulated the media constantly.

There was no reason for Kate and William to be travelling together on Monday. Her car, in fact, was following on behind.

He was off to a Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey and she was going to a private appointment — one that would have been a lot more private had she not joined him in that Range Rover.

Meanwhile, royal sources are pushing an insulting, patronizing narrative that poor, misguided Kate just didn't understand what she was doing. And on top of being physically ill, Kate is now said to be distraught over single handedly causing such disruption.

'Awful' was how Kate was feeling about this, one royal source told the Telegraph. Her intention was only to make the image 'the best it can be' but now feels that honesty is the 'best policy' and she must 'own up'.

It makes Kate sound like a simpleton. And there's a whiff of misogyny here, too – the little woman who tried her best but made a mess.

Just where is Prince William? Why didn't he take the blame? Instead, Kate was dragged out yesterday, photographed sitting next to her husband in the back of a car, her face turned away from the camera and towards a brick wall. That act read as defiance to me.

Can anyone imagine Charles allowing Camilla to take the fall like this?

If William and Kate's older children aren't seeing this controversy online, they're surely hearing about it in school — that their sick mother is to blame.

This is a disgrace.

Kate is the future of the Crown. She is the Windsors' most glittering asset, one who has reserves of global goodwill.

If the thinking was that her popularity meant she could afford to take accountability — wow. What a supreme miscalculation.

The photo's metadata shows it was saved twice in Adobe Photoshop — very sophisticated software that an 'amateur' such as Kate surely wouldn't be able to navigate.

The first saved version was timestamped 9:54 pm on Friday, March 8.

Does anyone think the unwell Kate was really sitting up near 10 o'clock at night fiddling with this?

In a rare interview from 2020, Kate talked about her approach to photography. Spoiler alert: It doesn't square with this highly edited family photo.

'One of the fantastic things about photography is it's really capturing that moment, so it's not stage-setting, it's not setting it up perfectly,' she said. 'It's not clearing your house away so you've got the perfect studio set-up. But it's really capturing those moments that feel real to you.'

Kate has always given us, if not her real self, her best self.

William, of all people, should understand how difficult that is.

In her hour of need, it is on the future king — not his ailing wife — to fix this.