Prince Harry birthday photo controversy: Did Royals intentionally cut Meghan Markle?

Prince Harry received unexpected public messages from his estranged royal relatives, King Charles, Prince William and Kate Middleton on his 40th birthday.

They dropped a warm birthday message along with a photo of the Duke of Sussex to celebrate his big day. However, soon after, it was claimed that they cropped Meghan Markle out of Harry’s photo.

The 2018 image, originally showing Harry and Meghan visiting a Dublin start-up, was altered to feature only the Duke of Sussex on The Royal Family Instagram and X accounts.

However, Getty Images has clarified that the photo is a pre-cropped pool image, noting that it is a “standard practice” in photography, and not intentionally edited by the Royal Family.

It is "standard practice to crop images to get singles, as has been done here,” they told The Mirror.