Was Meghan Markle Cropped Out of the Royal Family’s Birthday Tribute to Prince Harry?

It didn’t take long for royal conspiracy theorists to make those Prince Harry birthday tributes about Meghan Markle.

On September 15, Buckingham Palace wished the Duke of Susssex a “very happy 40th birthday” across King Charles’ social media accounts. A couple hours later, Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s team followed suit, reposting Buckingham Palace’s post to their official accounts, adding, “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex.”

Not particularly original or sentimental statements, but much better than nothing! According to the Sunday Times, Prince Harry hasn’t received birthday well-wishes from his family’s official accounts since 2021. Unfortunately, the internet never lets us have nice things.

Any warm, fuzzy feelings about these unexpected posts didn’t last long, with many internet sleuths alleging the royal family purposefully cropped the Duchess of Sussex out of the photo, which was originally taken during the couple’s visit to Ireland in 2018. “Tens of thousands of photos of Harry, and the Royal Family picked one that they cropped Meghan Markle out of,” wrote one X.com user. “Well played, Royal-well played.”

So, did the royal family really use Prince Harry’s birthday to diss Meghan Markle? Unlikely! A quick search on Getty Images reveals two versions of the photo taken by Jimmy Rainford: a wide-shot that includes Meghan Markle and a zoomed-in version of Prince Harry.

According to the Independent, Buckingham Palace has confirmed their birthday photo was “not altered and was used in the format it was received.”