WASHINGTON – After a botched Photoshop job and months of secrecy, Kate Middleton came clean Friday with a “genuine” message announcing her cancer diagnosis as the reason behind her weeks-long absence from public life.

In a two-minute video, the Princess of Wales displayed emotions “consistent with her words,”body language expert Chris Ulrich told The Post, showing that the royal family is finally acknowledging the speculation about her well-being that has gone into overdrive in recent days.

“What we see … is congruent body language with the feelings of expressing everything, from the acknowledgment of her surgery, then her acknowledgment of cancer and trying to explain that to her family,” Ulrich said.

Though Middleton admitted to digitally altering a picture of herself and her children earlier this month, there appeared to be nothing spoofed about her Friday’s video, he added.

“It’s all consistent with what we would expect,” Ulrich said.

“We see moments of expressing sadness. You can’t fake that stuff. You can, but it looks ridiculous.

“So unless she’s a highly trained actor beyond the scope of my comprehension, that is genuine, when we see [Kate’s] sadness, because there’s a slight swallow and exhale,” he added.

During her message, the 42-year-old Middleton kept her hands clasped in front of her in what’s known as the “fig leaf position,” occasionally kneading them as she spoke.

Ulrich said the princess appeared to be using her hands to comfort herself.

“There are a lot of pacifying gestures,” he said.

“If you watch her hands, she’s doing a lot of different gestures that we notice when someone is self-soothing.”

The hand gestures were one of the few signs of any disturbance, as Kate remained composed with her arms by her sides while relaying her message.

“As far as her physical body language, she’s not uber-expressive,” Ulrich said. “Her body language is much more contained.”

That subtly changed, however, when Middleton began describing how she and Prince William had to explain her diagnosis to their three children.

“When she’s talking about ‘our kids’ and ‘our family,’ her hands go into fists,” Ulrich said.

“When she squeezes her fingers, it’s digital flexion, which indicates tension, concern, worry.”

Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis: Everything we know so far

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• Kate Middleton revealed she’s been diagnosed with cancer in a bombshell announcement in March
• The royal is undergoing chemotherapy, and will not return to official palace duties until she is cleared by her doctor.
• Middleton had waited to reveal the news of her cancer until her children were off from school for Easter break.
• The announcement came after weeks of speculation and baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the royal.
• The princess had also been facing controversy regarding a scandal involving “digitally altered” photos of her family.
• Middleton recently underwent abdominal surgery.

That consistency between what Kate says with her body and with her words adds to Ulrich’s belief in the sincerity of the message.

“We see this congruency with what she’s saying – ‘Hey, our primary concern here is for our children and explaining this to them’ – and what someone concerned about the children would do,” he added.

“When and where we see the most physical movement from her is when she said to her children and to us that she’s fine, and that she is healthy.”

Aside from those moments of vulnerability, Ulrich said, Middleton appeared to try and mask her feelings at times, pursing her lips during brief pauses in her speech.

“There are moments where there is lip locking or lip suppression,” he said.

“This happens when we’re trying to stay in control of emotions.

“It’s very English.”