The royal seat at Buckingham came under rocky grounds as a seemingly innocuous Mother’s Day photograph shared by Kate Middleton boiled out into a doctoring debate. As soon as evidence and confirmation from the Duchess herself came about edits made to the photo, the pot-pourri spilled over and now has Meghan Markle under scrutiny. A 2021 photograph from the Duchess of Sussex lay at the center of Photoshop charges promoting a director with an Oscar-nominated flick joining in to support her.

Set at a point of no return from a debate ranging on touch-ups, the filmmaker weighed in on how things seemingly went out of proportion.

Meghan Markle reportedly did not edit her Princess Lillibet pregnancy photo

The Kate Middleton debate over editing personal images brought to the fore a 2021 photograph shared by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to announce the latter’s pregnancy. The subject of scrutiny in the black-and-white image is a willow tree overlooking them, with claims that it never existed. In defense, the photographer, Misan Harriman, whose 2024 directorial, The After, received a Best Live Action Short Film Oscar denied the charges while describing the photo as a “very joyous image”.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Harriman dissected a podcast spreading the news where his admission of “switching out trees and meadows” for different reasons got linked with the Meghan Markle photo in what he labeled as the interviewer posing “leading questions”. Moreover, he admitted that he took the portrait virtually during the pandemic. “And the only thing that was changed is the black and white color grade,” he added, dismissing any other claims of touch-ups.

In the meantime, the photo originally shared by the Princess of Wales popped out with at least sixteen instances of doctoring.

The Kate Middleton family photo labeled with several photoshop instances

On Mother’s Day 2024, Kate Middleton shared a family snap with her children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, surrounding her on three sides, sporting smiles. However, soon after publication, many editorials redacted the photo after concerns about editing, which the Duchess of Cambridge also admitted. Labeling the photoshop as an experimentation“with editing,” her statement, only aggravated the debate.

From botched sleeves and collars, warped hands, and unnatural cuts in places, several organizations identified many instances of editing the photo. Furthermore, with the issue now boiling over as prime debate, few also considered that Meghan Markle should now feel more vindicated than before.

What are your thoughts on Misan Harriman defending Meghan Markle’s 2021 photograph? Let us know in the comments below.