Buckingham Palace Denies Cropping Meghan Markle Out of Prince Harry's Birthday Photo Used by King Charles and Prince William

The British royal family celebrated Prince Harry's 40th birthday by sharing a photograph taken on Harry and Meghan's first overseas trip as a married couple.

By Allison Schonter

Buckingham Palace is setting the record straight amid ongoing rumors surrounding the British royal family's birthday tributes to Prince Harry. As the Duke of Sussex turned 40 on Sept. 15, his father, King Charles III, and his brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton, marked the occasion by sharing a throwback photo of Harry, with some royal watchers speculating that Meghan Markle was cropped out of the birthday tribute image.

The photo in question was taken by photographer Jimmy Rainford in July 2018 as Harry visited the Dogpatch Labs start-up in Dublin. Royal fans, however, quickly noted that the image was snapped amid Harry and Meghan's first overseas trip as a married couple following their May 2018 royal wedding. The solo shot of Harry used by the royals appeared to be a close-up of a larger image, in which Meghan could be seen sitting beside him, leading to speculation that the monarch and the Wales opted to crop Meghan out of the image. However, that wasn't the case.

According to The Independent, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace confirmed that the image used was not altered and was used in the format it was received. The outlet reported that two versions of the photograph – the cropped solo photo of Harry and the wider frame showing the newlyweds sitting together – were uploaded by the Press Association to Getty Images on the same day in 2018.

In the birthday tributes the King's office at Buckingham Palace wished Harry a happy 40th birthday on Instagram, X and Facebook, writing, "Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!" William and Kate added the same message alongside the photo, which they shared to both Instagram and X.

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The birthday tributes came as a surprise, as Harry's immediate family has made no public statements commemorating his birthday since Queen Elizabeth died in Sept. 2022 and amid the ongoing rift in the royal family. They family also didn't publicly wish Harry a happy birthday in 2023, though the New York Post reported that that was largely due to a new protocol implemented when Charles took the throne. A source told the outlet ahead of his 40th that it was expected "Harry will hear from his family. It's very likely that Charles and Kate will likely phone Harry to wish him well on his birthday."

According to the Daily Mail, Harry reportedly spent his birthday with his wife and their two children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.

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