Happy 40th birthday, Prince Harry! The estranged son of King Charles celebrated his milestone birthday in his home of Montecito, California this past weekend, but thousands of miles away the Royal family decided to do something surprising — they actually acknowledged his big day in a positive public message. One with absolutely no shade thrown at Meghan Markle whatsoever. No, sireee.
“Wishing the Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!” the official @RoyalFamily X account posted on Sunday, Sep. 15. Sounds like a harmless enough happy birthday message, right? The only thing is the image of Harry chosen to accompany this message notably crops Meghan out of the shot. This picture was taken back in 2018 — two years before Harry and Meghan had parted ways with the Royals — and, in the full shot, the duke and duchess are shown seated together.
In an even more surprising move, the official account for Prince William and Kate Middleton then decided to jump on the Duke of Sussex bandwagon by offering their own — vaguely reworded — happy birthday message to their brother and brother-in-law.
The included image was taken on July 11, 2018, while Harry and Meghan embarked on an official tour of Ireland in the immediate aftermath of their wedding (which occurred just a few weeks before on May 19). When this photo was snapped, the newlyweds were chatting and laughing with the bosses of Dogpatch Labs, a digital startup and innovation hub based in Dublin. As you can see below, Meghan was seated on Harry’s immediate left in the full shot.
To be fair to the Royals, there exists two versions of this photo on Getty Images — the full image depicting both Harry and Meghan, and then this now-infamous cropped version. So it’s not as if they manually manufactured Meghan out of the picture themselves. Even so, it certainly doesn’t seem like an accident that the family’s official account just happened to share an image of Harry without Meghan by his side, taken long before all the unpleasantness that tore the family apart came out in the wash.
The Sussex-supporting side of social media is definitely seeing this as a personal slight at Meghan’s expense, with many a heated and angry reaction following in the wake of the message’s posting. As one comment put it, “This is not an olive branch.”
Others thought the fact that Harry’s wedding ring can’t be seen in this cropped version of the photo was similarly important. It is handy that the photo removes all traces of Meghan from Harry’s life.
The hottest take surely has to come from one user who argued that such “ongoing cruelty” against Meghan is a sign that the Royal family has outstayed its welcome. “It’s time to #AbolishTheMonarchy and reject their outdated, discriminatory values,” they wrote.
An innocent image choice or a sinister attempt to erase Meghan from existence? Either way, you know there’s something rotten in the Royal family when a simple happy birthday tweet turns toxic.