I don’t think it’s shock that photos are edited, I think it’s the press being cautious not to post “fake news” and being wary of anything that isn’t an original photograph.

In this case it seems pretty obvious that nothing substantial has been changed, but they probably take a hard line on it especially in the age of AI, and just reject anything which looks like it has been manipulated. There are whole departments dedicated to fact checking.

So, I think the news is that Kate is fine and well, and is experimenting with Photoshop maybe with the extra time away from the public eye.