Royal residence refutes allegations of tampering with Harry's image.
The British royal family is once more in the spotlight due to questionable photographic practices. The recent issue stems from a snapshot posted by Buckingham Palace on September 15, celebrating Prince Harry's 40th birthday. The image, featuring Harry laughing during a 2018 trip to Dublin with his then-spouse Duchess Meghan, left many social media users convinced that Meghan had been intentionally cropped out of the photograph. The palace, however, denies any such manipulation, through a spokesperson, as reported by the British "Independent".
In July 2018, Harry and Meghan embarked on their first joint overseas trip to Dublin, with the Irish capital serving as their destination. One of the images captured during this visit includes the controversial snapshot. Amusing fact, Buckingham Palace's official birthday greeting to Harry was accompanied by a photo of him alone, with the accompanying caption, "Happy 40th birthday to the Duke of Sussex!". This message was also shared by Prince William and his wife Kate on their Instagram story.
Image Variants
Although differing versions of the photograph are available in the archives of image agencies, the palace's spokesperson confirmed that no alterations were made to the picture used in the birthday greeting.
Given the tumultuous relationship between the royal family and Harry and Meghan, following their departure from the royal family in 2020, and subsequent allegations, the fact that the royal family chose to send a birthday greeting at all is a noteworthy move.
This incident isn't a first for the royal family when it comes to photograph drama. Earlier this year, there was much ado concerning the Mother's Day photo of Princess Kate. The picture, showing Kate with her three children, was withdrawn by several major news agencies due to allegations of tampering. The princess later admitted on social media that her amateur photography skills sometimes lead to experimentation: "I would like to apologize for any confusion caused by the family photo we shared earlier. I sometimes experiment with photo editing."
In light of the controversy, when asked about the decision to feature a single image for Harry's birthday greeting, a palace representative stated, "I'm not going to comment on the decision-making process behind the selection of images."
Furthermore, after the backlash, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan chose not to engage with the photographic incident publicly, opting to focus on their charity work and other projects.
