The original photograph was taken on Harry and Meghan’s first overseas engagement as a married couple

A photograph shared by King Charles and Prince William to mark the Duke of Sussex’s 40th birthday was not cropped to remove Meghan Markle, Buckingham Palace has said.

Taken on Harry and Meghan’s first overseas trip to Dublin as a married couple in 2018, a close-up picture of a smiling Harry was shared by the royal family and later the Prince and Princess of Wales to mark his 40th birthday on Sunday.

The image was captioned: “Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!”

The original image featured Meghan Markle and was taken on the couple’s first overseas visit after they tied the knot at Windsor Castle in 2018. (Getty Images)

But royal watchers spotted that the original image, taken when Harry was still a working royal, also featured his wife the Duchess of Sussex.

This led to online speculation the duchess was deliberately removed from the image by the royal family, but it has since emerged the cropped picture of Harry, as well as the full picture featuring his wife, were uploaded by the Press Association to Getty Images on the same day in 2018.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace confirmed the image used was not altered and was used in the format it was received.

The pair’s relationship with the royal family has steadily deteriorated since they stepped down as working royals in 2020 and gave several tell-all interviews.

Further strain was added by Harry’s 20203 memoir Spare, in which he made various bombshell accusations – one of the most notable that William attacked his younger brother when they got into an argument over the reported treatment of the former Suits star.

While the decision to share the image has been interpreted by some as an “olive branch” to Harry, others have said that it simply follows a precedent set by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The late monarch is said to have established a tradition where non-working royals have their birthdays noted on official channels on significant dates that end with 0.

Fans, nonetheless, went wild for the image as it marks the first time that the royal family has acknowledged Harry’s birthday since 2021.

This is not the first time that the royal family has found itself at the centre of a Photoshop scandal, and eyebrows were similarly raised by the Princess of Wales’s celebratory Mother’s Day photograph.

It has been six years since this smiling picture of the four royals together was taken (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Featuring the princess with her three children, the image was pulled from circulation by major news agencies after it emerged that it had been doctored.

Kate, 42, subsequently issued an apology to the official Kensington Royal Twitter/X account, where she admitted that as an “amateur photographer” she does “occasionally experiment with editing”.

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” the post continued. “I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”

Harry’s relationship with his immediate family appears to be on poor terms. He has not seen his father since the announcement of his cancer diagnosis in February.

While Harry did see William at their uncle Lord Robert Fellowes’s funeral in August, the pair are said to have kept a distance. They were last photographed together in public at the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.