The fake image of Kate Middleton 'writing king in lipstick on Prince William's chest' explained
It looked pretty convincing!An image seemingly showing Prince William having “king” written on his chest in lipstick by a brunette, who many likened to Kate Middleton, once did the rounds on the internet.
But is it real? No, of course not. But it’s so realistic, you might say. Well, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for that…
Bizarre pictures of Prince William, Kate, and the queen partying
Back in 2013, several bizarre, sometimes inappropriate, pictures of the royal family did the rounds on the internet.
Some of the pictures depicted the royals enjoying a party at the palace with Lady Gaga and Elton John, and doing a conga line with Queen Elizabeth II and David Cameron.
Another photo, which appears to have been taken through a window, shows William and Kate cutting their wedding cake with an enormous sword.
A separate snap shows Harry slumped on a staircase with a bottle of bubbly in his hands.
Another bizarre pic shows William having “King” written on his chest by a brunette woman during a party.
However, as you may have probably guessed by now, none of these photos are real. But why do they look so realistic? The answer is quite simple…
Royal party pictures explained
The reason the pictures look so realistic is that the royals in them are, in fact, lookalikes.
They were the creation of Allison Jackson, an artist and photographer whose work explores celebrity culture. She makes realistic work of celebrities doing things in private – such as partying, or changing nappies (as one picture of the queen depicts) – using lookalikes.
Back in 2013, Alison spoke to The Independent about her work. “I think any screen, or any image, is very seductive,” she said. “One makes the people into objects, which is delicious as a viewer, because then you can just fantasise. You can project your own fantasies onto the performer, rather than have to deal with the real person, which is always slightly awkward.”
Addressing some of her royal lookalike photos, Jackson was asked if she was a royalist.
“Well, I’m certainly not anti-royal. I don’t think they’re a drain or a drag,” she said at the time.
Jackson’s history of faking images of the royal family
Jackson’s history of taking fake photos of the royal family dates back to the 1990s.
In 1999, Jackson created black and white photos of herself dressed as Princess Diana with a Dodi Fayed lookalike. The pictures depicted the late couple with a love child.
Other photos of Jackson as Diana showed her giving the camera the middle finger, and another of her eating a chocolate bar.
When asked why she stopped cosplaying and started hiring lookalikes, she said: “I wanted to get it right. I wanted to actually replace the real. Can you replace the real? Rather than just fake it. I think you can.”
So next time you see a picture of the royals doing something a little odd, maybe take a closer look, just to see if it’s actually lookalikes.
Or worse, AI.
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