Eagle-Eyed Netizens Claim Royal Family Cropped Out Meghan Markle From Prince Harry’s Birthday Photo

On Sundaym September 15, King Charles III's social media handles posted birthday messages for Prince Harry. Prince William and Kate Middleton retweeted the same, and added, "Wishing a happy 40th birthday to the Duke of Sussex." Eagle-eyed netizens, however, were quick to claim that the royal family removed Meghan Markle from the photo of Harry, posted for the occasion.

A person noted on X (formerly Twitter), "The Windsor family are now beyond petty and it will be their downfall. Millions of pictures at their disposal and what do they do? Instead of choosing a photo of Harry taken alone they deliberately chose a picture where they could chop his wife out. Not a bit spiteful are they?" Another disappointed critic stated, "Yes they could pick any photo that had Meghan in it and they chose to not. But no they didn't crop her out. It's only him in the picture." In a similar vein, one argued, "The RF and Kensington Palace cropped her out, as if she, not they, are responsible for their dysfunction. She WAS in the photo. Doesnt matter. Shows how salty the RF and Will/Kate are. Nearly 5 years later and they still havent gotten over it."

A 2018 snap of Harry smiling broadly while visiting Dogpatch Labs in Dublin was chosen to commemorate his 40th birthday. As reported by Page Six, Markle too was in attendance at the event. One of the original photos featured her smiling beside him as they sat at a table with others. On Monday, a representative from Buckingham Palace verified to The Independent that the photograph was used just as it was received, without any alterations.

The birthday post was the first in three years that the royal family publicly acknowledged Harry’s birthday since he and Markle stepped away from their roles as senior royals in 2020, The Sunday Times reported. On his special day, Harry was reportedly anticipating more than just a birthday post, expecting phone calls from many relatives instead.

Before the big day, an insider told the New York Post, "Harry will hear from his family. It’s very likely that Charles and Kate will phone Harry to wish him well on his birthday." However, the source who is close to the royals, predicted that William still bitter, would not reach out "given everything that has gone on."

However, Harry did receive a substantial financial bonus of $8.5 million for his milestone birthday, thanks to his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother. As reported by The Times, the late royal bequeathed $90 million to a family trust, with the condition that Harry would be able to receive his portion of the cash upon reaching the age of 40.