The 40th birthday of Prince Harry prompted his estranged royal cousins to send out shocking comments to the public.
A message was posted on both X and Instagram by the social media accounts of King Charles and Prince William and Princess Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, to commemorate the Duke of Sussex's milestone birthday.
The official royal account went first and posted a striking image of a beaming Prince Harry with the message: "Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!"
A few minutes later, the identical photo was published on the account of Prince William and Princess Kate, along with the following message: "Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex!"
During a trip to Ireland in 2018, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were shown smiling in a photograph that was included in both of the posts. The photograph was taken during an engagement when Prince Harry was a working royal.
The photograph was taken in July of that year at the Dogpatch Labs start-up in Dublin, and web sleuths alleged that the birthday posts made a jab at Meghan by cutting her out of the post. This is because there is a broader shot of the image, which shows Harry and his wife sitting at a table with other visitors. Additionally, there are additional people there.
Nevertheless, it appears that there are in fact two versions of the picture that are accessible: the broader view and one that has already been pre-cropped by the photographer. This version of the picture just depicts Prince Harry and is available for use through picture agencies such as Getty Images. Other versions of the picture are also available.
It was confirmed to The Mirror by Getty Photos that the shot is a pool image that was gathered by a photographer who is not affiliated with Getty Images. However, the company also stated that it is "standard practice to crop images in order to obtain singles, as has been done here."
It is therefore quite probable that the official accounts of the Royal Family did not crop Meghan out of the image themselves; rather, they chose the accessible single pre-cropped image of Prince Harry to use in the post, given that he was the one who was celebrating his 40th birthday.
It comes at a time when Prince Harry, who has moved to California after standing down from his position as a member of the working monarchy, is thought to have celebrated his birthday on Sunday with Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. After that, it is said that he would have gone away to attend a get-together with his closest pals.
Additionally, a cropped version of the photograph is offered by a number of foreign photo agencies.
In a year that has been nothing short of a roller coaster for the royal family, Harry is about to enter his fifth decade. On top of that, both the King and the Princess of Wales have been diagnosed with cancer respectively. The shocking news about the King's health was published in February, and Prince Harry made a hasty trip across the Atlantic Ocean to see him. However, his meeting with his father was only scheduled to last for forty-five minutes.
"I was anxious about 30, I'm excited about 40", Prince Harry told BBC and described how fatherhood had given him a renewed sense of purpose to make "this world a better place".
During the course of his year, Prince Harry has participated in a number of activities, including giving the skeleton bobsled a go by joining athletes in preparation for the Invictus Games in Canada and going on quasi-royal trips to Colombia and Nigeria.
In addition to his commitments with African Parks, The Halo Trust, The Diana Award, and Travalyst, the duke is scheduled to go to New York later this month. During his trip, he will spend time with organizations that are affiliated with his Archewell Foundation.
Business Times has reached out to Meghan Markle for comments.
