Blake Lively appears to call out Kate Middleton’s photoshopped family photo

‘Now you know why I’ve been MIA,’ Lively’s post read

Blake Lively has made a subtle nod to Kate Middleton’s edited family photo.

The actress recently made an Instagram post announcing some updates for her alcohol brand, Betty Buzz and Betty Booze. The post showed a photo of her head blatantly Photoshopped on a distorted woman’s body lounging by a pool, with one of her Betty Buzz drinks in hand. Seemingly poking fun at rumors over Kate’s whereabouts, Lively added in the 15 March post, “Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”

The mother of four announced that she was releasing four new products for her beverage brand, including two mocktails.

The Betty Buzz account left a comment under the pic that read, “Haters will say it’s photoshop.” Many other commenters applauded the actress for how funny they thought the parody was.

“The concept of this ad…She is a mastermind!” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing, “This is hilarious and so on the nose.”

Other commenters viewed the advertisement as offensive, mentioning that Lively went too far with her joke.

“Love you Lively, but this is mean,” one comment began. “The person you are referring to is recovering from a nasty illness, she had been bullied enough when she was dating William, so she had her share. She has done nothing wrong, let her be.”

Another commenter agreed, writing, “Wrong call Blake…this kind of ‘funny’ doesn’t quite cut it especially not if you want to be seen as a feminist.”

Earlier this week Middleton had broken her silence on the row surrounding a photo issued by the royal family on Mother’s Day.

The Princess of Wales has personally apologised for confusion over the family photograph issued by Kensington Palace saying: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”

She added: “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.”

She signed off the post with her initial: “C”.

Kensington Palace gave the picture credit to Prince William but internet sleuths soon noticed inconsistencies that appeared to show it had been digitally altered.

The Princess of Wales’s statement on Monday came with the Palace under pressure to answer questions about whether the first picture of Kate – with children George, Charlotte and Louis - after her abdominal surgery in January has been photoshopped.

Six of the world’s biggest news agencies have now pulled the picture from circulation after concerns were raised about image manipulation.

Speculation on social media has been widespread, with members of the public wondering why Kate had not made any public appearances since December, and expressing concern for her health.

“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months,” she said.

At first glance the photograph may appear normal, however social media users were quick to point out some key giveaways that the picture may have been altered.

Most glaring is Princess Charlotte’s left-hand sleeve, which appears to partially dissolve into nothing. Kate’s right hand also appears to be unusually blurred, while a wall near Louis’ leg appears to disconnect.

Royal sources told the Press Association the Princess of Wales made “minor adjustments” and that Kate and the Prince of Wales wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day.

“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today’s programme on Monday royal photographer Ian Lloyd said manipulation of royal photographs was common, but the decision to pull it was “very rare”.