Kate Middleton's Sad Facial Expression After Photo Mishap Parallels to the Late Princess Diana

Kate Middleton was seen for the first time since her Mother's Day photoshop scandal, and the Princess of Wales' melancholy expression mirrored her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. After Kate admitted to "editing" her family photo, she and Prince William appeared tense in a car ride to a "private appointment."

“It’s an awful lot to be under all of this public scrutiny when you are recovering from major surgery," a source told an outlet. “The rumor mill — particularly on social media — has gotten out of control, but Kate is recovering well and she will be back by Easter."

Kate stepped away from the spotlight after her abdominal operation, and the insider is concerned about the emotional toll the botched image had on the mom-of-three.

“She just needs to be left in peace," the source shared. “I worry about all this attention on Catherine. She did not look happy at all in the car on Monday.”

OK! previously reported royal expert Neil Sean believes Kate's return to social media was done hastily in an attempt to put an end to the assumptions being made about the Princess of Wales' health.

"I think Catherine herself probably had the final say [on the photo]. And I think that what happened was probably in the rush she probably looked at and thought, you know, that looks okay and didn't give too much attention to it," Sean told an outlet.

"I believe someone else did the photoshop percent. And I think that she's being very gracious in accepting the blame," he continued.

Kate took the blame for the incident, and the commentator believes she was willing to do it.

"What I've been told literally from an excellent source, in fact, is that she was quite happy to do that," he shared. "I think she is humiliated in some respects but doesn't really understand what this fuss is about."

The snapshot of Kate with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis is still on the couple's Instagram account, but various news outlets removed it from their platforms.

"A lot of those particular agencies have been looking for slip-ups for years, because remember, before they would sell the rights to that picture. Catherine and William have bypassed it by doing their own picture," Sean explained. "Now, it could be that they'll have to revert back, at least for the next couple of pictures, to alleviate any claims of any misdemeanor type stuff. It’s going to be a mess for a while."

"I don't really understand how these people like these big agencies, Reuters and the Associated Press, they're just trying to bully this woman into giving them the health details," he continued.

Although Kate's social media post was expected to end the assumptions being made about her, it resulted in people having more questions.

"I think Catherine and the team genuinely thought, 'Put a picture out on Mother's Day, that will stop people nagging about where she is, why isn’t she speaking, all that sort of stuff,'" Sean shared. "And what happened was the picture that they put together, they thought, 'Well, we'll just clean that up, make it look a little bit fresher.' And now suddenly you've got a furor."

Sources spoke to Page Six.