Harry-Meghan Photo Not Altered, Says Photographer, Shares Original Portrait

The photo was scrutinised by UK media for having a willow tree added in the background.

Amid uproar over Kate Middleton sharing an edited Mother’s Day photograph, another royal portrait is being criticised for allegedly being altered. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Valentines’ Day photo, shared in 2021 to announce the couple’s second pregnancy, was scrutinised by UK media for having a willow tree added in the background.

However, the photographer who clicked the portrait has hit out at claims that it was retouched and shared a coloured version of the photo demanding an apology.

“The original Jpeg without the black and White grade, I expect a full apology and retraction from @dailymail @telegraph. No trees or meadows were moved or swapped, this is the image straight out of camera. Also that is a Jacaranda Tree, not a willow tree,” Artist Misan Harriman said in a post on Instagram, also sharing the details of the original photo.

The black-and-white photograph showed the Sussexes under a tree, with a pregnant Meghan resting her head in Harry’s lap while the couple is all smiles.

“The Daily Mail says I have admitted to doctoring the pregnancy announcement portrait of Harry and Meghan. Apparently I was switching out trees and meadows. And I admitted to this in an episode of a podcast called Private Passions. This is crazy,” he said.

The photographer says that the podcast host asked him about clicking the portrait in virtual mode during the lockdown and a “few leading questions” which he tried to “swerve” from. The podcast host then asked Mr Harriman if the couple were under a willow tree and he replied that they were lying outside in a meadow.

“How that exchange could amount to me admitting to doctoring an image is insidious,” he said, adding that the claim was “dangerous and unacceptable”.

“The only thing that was changed was the black-and-white colour,” he said.

The UK royal family has been at the centre of controversy after Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, admitted to editing a palace-issued photograph of herself with her three children after the altered image was withdrawn by news agencies across the world.

The photograph added fuel to fire as social media was rife with speculations about the royal’s prolonged absence from public eye after the palace suddenly announced she would be undergoing an abdominal surgery. The princess has not been away from public life since Christmas.