Blake Lively has apologised for joking about Catherine, Princess of Wales' "photoshop fails" after learning that the royal has cancer

In the weeks leading up to the announcement, Kensington Palace had released a photograph of the princess with her children for Mother's Day which soon turned out to have been edited and former 'Gossip Girl' star Blake, 36, took aim at the picture on social media.

In a nod to speculation over Catherine's long absence from the public eye, Blake wrote: I'm so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz @bettybooze products! Now you know why I've been MIA."

She said: "I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally, for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I've been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family. But I've had a fantastic medical team who've taken great care of me for which I'm so grateful.

"In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London. And at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous.

"The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation on cancer had been present.

"This of course, came as a huge shock. And Wiliam and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family."

But just hours after learning of Catherine's health crisis, Blake was quick to apologise for her actions and the post has now been taken down,

She wrote on Instagram: "I'm sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. I made a silly post around the "photoshop fails" frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I'm sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always."