White House wishes Kate Middleton a 'speedy recovery' from surgery and says the Biden administration 'does not alter photos' in first comments on the Mother's Day photo saga

The White House  said it 'does not alter photos' of President Joe Biden or any officials in its first comments on the Kate Middleton Mother's Day Photoshop fail.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the top spokesperson for the administration, was asked if the White House ever digitally altered photos of officials before releasing them to the public. 

'Are you comparing us to the what's going on in the UK?,' she asked before adding: 'What does the monarchy have to do anything with us? No, that is not something that we do here.'

Kensington Palace's release of the photo and subsequent apology from the Princess of Wales caused a stir in the UK, trended on social media around the world, and led to a slew of conspiracy theories. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration did not digitally alter photos in its first comments on the Kate Middleton Mother's Day Photoshop fail

Jean-Pierre did say the White House offered Kate a 'speedy recovery' from her abdominal surgery. 

'We will offer speedy recovery and I'm just gonna leave it there. I don't have anything else to share,' Jean-Pierre said.

The Princess of Wales admitted on Monday that she edited the portrait which was released by Kensington Palace on Sunday, which was Mother's Day in the UK, and apologised 'for any confusion' that the family photograph has caused.

In the first official image released since Kate's 'planned abdominal surgery' on January 16, the MailOnline identified sixteen separate edits, including issues with the princess's jeans zipper and right hand - amid claims the photo was digitally altered.

Reports indicate that Prince William took Kate's Mother's Day photograph in just a 40-minute window on Friday before the Princess edited it twice in Photoshop to 'make it the best it can be'.

Pictured: the Princess of Wales with her children, Prince Louis, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor in what has become known as a Photoshop fail

The Prince of Wales took the picture of his smiling family on a £2,900 Canon camera before Kate made edits to improve the photo ahead of its public release on Instagram on Sunday.

Kensington Palace aides are said to have spent weeks planning to release a photo of the Princess of Wales to quell vicious social media speculation about the nature of Kate's condition since her surgery in January, which has deeply upset and angered the couple.

Instead, the rare royal blunder resulted in another public explosion of conspiracy theories.

Six of the world's top picture agencies - including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty - sensationally pulled the photo from their wires and libraries amid concern that the 'source has manipulated the image'.

Amid the furor, the Princess later issued an extraordinary mea culpa on Twitter and Instagram, admitting she 'edited' the image - adding that she does 'occasionally experiment' as an 'amateur photographer' and apologising for 'any confusion' the image caused.

Kate is said to have felt that honesty was 'the best policy' and wanted to 'own up' to the Photoshop blunder. The Princess felt 'awful' about the picture and had been trying to make it the 'best it could be', insiders told The Times - adding that she was 'thinking of her own children when editing the picture, hoping that they looked good for their own sakes'.

Publicly taking the blame for the furor, the princess wrote on Monday: '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.'

Royal sources said the princess had made 'minor adjustments' to the picture, which she and her husband had hoped would be a lovely 'informal' shot to share on a special day.

'This was an amateur, family photograph taken by the Princess of Wales. Their Royal Highnesses wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother's Day,' the source said.

'The Princess made minor adjustments as she shared in her statement on social media, the Wales family spent Mother's Day together and had a wonderful day.'

Despite calls for the original to be published, Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the unedited photograph of Kate and her children, which in itself sparked further debate.

Kate posted the apology on the Prince and Princess of Wales' Instagram account 

The White House said it does not digitally alter photos it distributes such as one from last month when President Biden met with Yulia Navalnaya and Dasha Navalnaya, the wife and daughter of murdered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

On Monday night, the palace faced growing pressure over the debacle with claims it has been damaging to public trust.

Palace aides did not spot any signs of Photoshop but it's not believed the edits were made aware to the princess' team before it became public.

However, questions have been raised over whether the picture was too good to be true. One red flag might have been the fact the beaming family portrait was shot in such a short time on Friday.

The busy schedules of the Wales family meant the picture had to be taken while everyone was back at home from various activities. A day later, Kate is said to have sent the photo out to her team.

It's unknown whether any of her team could see that the photo had been edited on Photoshop but alarm bells may have started ringing when courtiers discovered that William had taken the picture.

Without editing, it would have been some feat for William to take such a captivating photo with all the members of the family simultaneously roaring with laughter.

A plan was put in place to release the photo and a message from Kate herself at 9am on Sunday - but what quickly ensued was 24 hours of intense scrutiny as the Palace faced questions from all angles over why the family photo appeared to be digitally manipulated.

Meanwhile, Kate was seen in the backseat of a car with her husband as he left Windsor to travel to London for two public engagements.

DailyMail.com understands she was on route for a 'private appointment.'