Late Saturday evening (London time), the @KensingtonRoyal Twitter account (the official Twitter of Princes William and Harry and Duchess Kate) released four portraits of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, all taken by their mum, the Duchess of Cambridge. The portraits were taken at Anmer Hall, by most accounts. The photos caused a stir on social media and on blogs, mostly because the internet thrives on chubby baby cheeks and cats.

Still, it did seem like an odd decision: why release the portraits on Twitter in the middle of a lazy June weekend? Many UK papers don’t even do Sunday editions, so half of the British print media would have to wait until Monday to publish the photos… although most British and American outlets posted the photos online, so it was no biggie. Except many of the British royal reporters are kind of pissed off about the way these photos were released. Richard Palmer is the royal reporter for The Daily Express and Niraj Tanna is the Middletons’ favorite paparazzo:

KP’s use of Twitter to release pictures and information will eventually render royal correspondents jobless. Nearly all info is from KP PO.

— Niraj Tanna (@IkonPictures) June 7, 2015

@IkonPictures We need to work harder at coming up with proper news – what somebody somewhere wants to suppress.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 7, 2015

@royalmusing @missymckee If the palace tries to cut out the middleman, we need to go back to finding more unofficial stories and pics.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 7, 2015

Twitter’s great fun but should a British Royal Family funded by UK taxpayers release historic images first on US-run social media?

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 6, 2015

It seems like petty, after-the-fact nitpicking, but it plays into a larger discussion we’re having and many royal-watchers are having about Prince William and Duchess Kate’s disdain for old media, and how they believe they can function as royals – paid for by the taxpayers – without doing much at all and by cutting out the press in total. The release of these portraits comes after William in particular was criticized for choosing a football game and playing polo over attending the opening of Parliament (which is apparently what the Queen wanted him to do, attend the opening). When William and Kate are criticized in the media, they deflect using their children or some “look, we’re just like you!” strategic leaks (which are usually about how they’re different from the royal family because they care about their children).

Oh, and there’s a rumor that William and Kate will bring George out for Trooping the Colour next weekend. If you remember, there were some tabloid reports that the Queen basically had to beg Kate to attend this year’s Trooping the Colour.

Photos courtesy of the Duchess of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal.