For a few brief moments it had people oohing and aahing: here at last was Kate, smiling and lovely, surrounded by her kids in a picture taken at home by her husband to mark Mother’s Day in the UK.
It was the proof everyone needed that she was indeed on the mend, hard evidence to silence the conspiracy theorists.
But the illusion has well and truly been shattered – and if the palace had hoped the pic would put an end to speculation about the Princess of Wales, they were sorely mistaken. Within hours several photo agencies had pulled the image from their sites over concerns it had been manipulated.