Princess Kate has been photographed leaving Windsor Castle hours after apologising for editing a family photo.

The Daily Mail has published a photo of the Princess of Wales, 42, in the back of a car with her husband, Prince William as he travelled to Westminster Abbey for a Commonwealth Day Service.

William, 41, can be seen in the photo looking down toward the floor, while Kate is seen looking away from the camera out of the car window. The UK news outlet reported the Princess was on her way to a private appointment.

The mother of three’s outing comes hours after she issued a public apology for making edits to the first official photograph released since undergoing “planned abdominal surgery” in January.

The photograph – which was released to celebrate the UK’s Mother’s Day – was “killed” by five of the world’s top photo agencies, including Getty, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Shutterstock and Reuters, yesterday following concerns the image had been altered.

Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to the decision, however, it has since issued a statement via tweet apologising for any “confusion”.

The short statement which was signed off “C” indicating it came from the Princess herself, read: “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.”

AP has reported Kensington Palace has stated it will not release the original unedited photo.

It comes amid rife speculation surrounding Kate’s absence from royal duties. Many theories have come to light including that there was a major unexpected complication during her surgery, however, the palace maintains the princess is “doing well” and slammed conspiracy theories.

Speaking to the Sun, royal aides said: “We’ve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy. There has been much on social media but the princess has a right to privacy and asks the public to respect that.”

The recent moves from the palace have resulted in a PR problem for the royal family, says veteran public relations consultant Mark Borkowski.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: “There doesn’t seem to be that much joined-up strategic thinking at the heart of the royal family at the moment, which leads to these problems where it’s a very difficult organisation to manage in terms of PR,” he said.

“I find they have risen to the challenge, provided the statement as an explanation,” he said of Kate’s apology Monday. “The question is, with all the conspiracy theories running around, is whether people believe it. And I’m not sure that they will.”