Vanity Fair Says Prince William Not Photoshopped: See The Pics And Decide

Prince William, when he introduced his new son Prince George to the world in July 2013, was quick to comment on the tiny royal’s mostly bald head. Referencing the few strands of hair on his then as-yet-to-be-named firstborn, Prince William said: “He’s got way more than me, thank God.”

The trend has followed the same way over the past year, as Prince George has steadily grown more hair, enough to have an attractive swoop of bangs. Indeed, the baby, due to turn a year old on July 24, was named the celebrity baby with the best hair – beating out Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s scion North West. This is as his Dad’s hair continues to thin – or one would assume.

But did the folks at Vanity Fair try to reverse the process? The magazine features the royal family on the cover of its August issue. Prince William’s hairline is significantly fuller, leading some to question whether the publication’s art department did some touch-up work behind the scenes. Vanity Fair was clear about one thing:

We did not Photoshop the cover to make Prince William appear to have more hair.

However, the publication also admitted the photo was altered for the sake of the aesthetic value of the cover shot:

We gave the image a poster-like palette. We added some shadow to Prince William to make the white type more legible, and to place more emphasis on Prince George.

That seems to resolve the issue. The magazine was not trying to make Prince William look better. They were trying to turn attention away from him and toward his son. However, even an amateur scan of the touched and untouched photos side-by-side reveals many tweaks that must have occurred in the editing process:

Telegraph writer Bibby Sowray made the point that these kinds of changes are not restricted to Prince William: “The Duchess was given a freakishly small waist by Grazia following the royal wedding, while Prince George was given a faux rosy glow by US Weekly just a few weeks ago.” Sowray added that William need not have felt “picked on.”

As the Daily Mail reported, the royals did not sit for this photo to appear in Vanity Fair. The picture was taken in April when Prince William and his brood were visiting a zoo in Australia.

[Left Image: PA Photo; Right Image: Mark Stewart/Camera Press/Redux/Vanity Fair]