Royal photoshop accusations through the years as new Sussex photo sparks edit conspiracy

Over the years, the Royal Family has been embroiled in plenty of controversies around editing photos.

Now, it's fairly standard for images of the rich and famous to airbrush out some features, maybe just blurring out a pimple or spot.

There's also just regular editing, where a photographer might crop the picture down slightly to improve the composition - but these incidents allege far more serious image tampering.

Some of them even see allegations of an earlier picture of someone being superimposed into an entirely new context, with some downright sloppy image editing just to make the whole thing seem even more ridiculous.

But what are the largest incidents of this happening with the Royal Family in recent months? Well, let's take a look at some of biggest photoshop howlers.

Prince William and Kate Middleton Christmas card

The Wales' 2025 Christmas card (X/@Kensingtonroyals)

This picture was taken by photographer Josh Shinner in April, and shows Will and Kate with their children sitting in a field of daffodils, and was used for a Christmas card.

"Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas," the card's message reads.

But something about the photo feels a bit off, with the focus on the family not quite matching that of the background.

Some people speculated that it appeared as though they had been photoshopped in and hadn't posed for the picture in person.

"Were any of them actually together when they took the picture, or is it another Photoshop?" one person asked.

Meghan and Harry’s Christmas card

The couple shared two Christmas releases (Instagram/@meghan)

It's not just Will and Kate's festive greetings which have come under scrutiny, as the Sussexes have also faced similar criticism.

This was released as a video rather than just a single image, and came with the message: "On behalf of the Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Archewell, we wish you a very happy holiday season and a joyful new year."

But one aspect of the photo saw people accusing the pair of retouching - a strange smudge located just above Harry's head.

Eagle-eyed viewers noticed something slightly odd about Harry's head (Instagram/@meghan)

Kate Middleton 2024 Mother's Day photo

The photo was released for Mother's Day (Instagram/@princeandprincessofwales)

This one was released by Kate Middleton as part of Mother's Day last year, and shows her with her children.

But several aspects of the now infamous snap drew speculation about photoshopping.

One was that one of Prince George's fingers appeared to be missing, and there was an odd area around Kate's head which appeared to show that her portrait had been edited in from another picture. There were plenty of other odd details in the image too.

The Duchess even admitted it had been manipulated, writing a message signed from 'C', which said: "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.

"I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.

"I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day."

The photo was also pulled from several news agencies.

Harry and Meghan Instagram Post

Meghan and Harry shared several new photos (Instagram/@meghan)

This one saw Meghan Markle accused of splicing together two images, one of herself and one of Prince Harry.

Some noted similarities to images of the royals engaging in a traditional Maori greeting in which people rub their noses together.

It was speculated that an image of the royals doing this was clipped out and then edited together to make it seem as though they were sharing a tender moment together.

One person claimed the image had been Photoshopped (Instagram/@meghan)

The photo itself was part of a post featuring a 'mood board' of photos of the pair together, with the image in question being pinned to a board with a note that said 'our love story'.