Kate Middleton, Prince William take big step after criticism

Princess of Wales Kate Middleton and Prince William have apparently taken a big step and changed their key policy quietly following massive backlash.

According to reports, the future king and queen previously shared new photographs with the media ahead of public release including the pictures of their children to mark their birthdays the night before the big day.

But following backlash over the Mother's Day picture in March, the Prince and Princess of Wales have now quietly changed their policy and release the pictures via their social media platforms.

Kate Middleton had also issued an apology over social media after backlash, saying “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 expert Richard Eden has claimed: "Previously the Palace would give photographs, to mark a big occasion such as a birthday, to media organisations and newspapers the night before with embargo.

"They'd have the photographs and the details and then they would release it at a certain time, usually sort of 11pm the night before [the event]."

He added: "But since that row over the photograph Catherine took and had been digitally altered [the Mother's Day photo]

"The Palace has just put the photograph on social media the next day and it's very significant, because previously agencies who had a policy of not distributing photographs that had been digitally altered, they would have to then raise concerns.”