Lorraine Kelly shared her thoughts on the controversy surrounding Princess Kate's edited Mother's Day photo on her show on Tuesday morning.
The Princess of Wales faced scrutiny over the image which was shared by Kensington Palace on Sunday showing her and her three children at home. After worries the photo had been edited the Associated Press and other major photo agencies issued a kill order on the image.
Talking about the ordeal on Lorraine with royal editor, Russell Myers, she said: "Gosh this isn't going away is it? It's just crazy. At the end of the day she just wanted a nice picture with her kids. It's really blown up in their faces hasn't it?
Discussing the social media conspiracy theories over Kate's absence, Russell added: "They have really just thrown fuel on the fire," to which Lorraine added: "They really have."
"I think it's time now, enough is enough now, the poor woman is recovering from serious surgery, you're not going to be in hospital for two weeks for something small, just leave her. Just leave her, this is not fair, she doesn't need it."
Russell added: "To the palace's credit they have been pretty consistent from the off[...] we weren't going to see her until after Easter, for people [on social media] to ask for proof of life, it is pretty bizarre.
"The issue is I think the palaces are caught between two different sets of rules because the King is going through his cancer treatment and has been very open, and Kate doesn't want to do that, she's been very guarded about her ailments. She just needs a bit of time to rest and recuperate."
Lorraine said: "She definitely doesn't need to be bounced or bullied into making a statement or doing a video or doing anything like that, it's just unfortunate that nobody had a look at that picture and went: [noise], 'I don't think so'.
Following the public reaction to the image, on Monday morning, a message from the Princess was shared on her official social media channels.
It 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."
Since the controversy, the Princess was pictured travelling to an appointment alongside her her husband. The pair were spotted inside a black Range Rover as they left Windsor.
The royal couple were travelling to London, Kate for her aforementioned appointment, William, to join his stepmother Queen Camilla to head up the senior royals at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
It is understood that the Princess did not attend the service.