Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Maternity-Shoot Photographer Proves He Didn’t Manipulate His Images

Even though Meghan Markle and Prince Harry moved all the way to California to get away from the royal drama, the goings-on at Kensington Palace have once again somehow caused controversy for the family of four. But let’s stop this rumor before it starts: No, the family’s black-and-white image announcing the imminent arrival of daughter Lilibet was not faked. The photographer said so and brought receipts.

The Sussexes were dragged into the latest royal mess after the Princess of Wales admitted to (heavily) editing a family photo. The Daily Mail, in typical Daily Mail fashion, then combed through its archives to find any scrap of evidence that Meghan Markle had ever photoshopped anything and came up with a quote from Markle’s friend Misan Harriman, who, on a podcast, described taking their pregnancy announcement pictures. By taking Harriman’s words out of context, the Mail claimed (in a since updated article) that he was essentially admitting to faking the picture. And Harriman, understandably, did not like that one bit.

In a video posted to Instagram, the photographer and director demanded a retraction and apology from outlets that had run with the story, explaining that he took the photo remotely using the couple’s iPad, and that the only editing he did afterward was to put it in black-and-white.

As further proof, he also uploaded the original, full-color image.

(The Mail also dug up another instance, from 2019, of the Sussexes being accused of photoshopping, and in that case, the picture taker also shared the original picture on social media, and it looks like it wasn’t manipulated! Shocker!)

Amid the whole picture debacle, anonymous “sources” have gone to bat for the Sussexes, telling Page Six, “This isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make.… She has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail…. If Harry and Meghan had ever encountered the same issue, they would have been annihilated…. The same rules do not apply to both couples.” However, a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation said to Newsweek, “With respect to Page Six, that did not come from us.”

In all likelihood, Princess Kate is a recovering woman under a crazy amount of pressure, and we’ll see her when we see her. In the meantime, do not make this about Meghan Markle. She didn’t do anything!