Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s photographer has rejected allegations that he doctored the Duchess of Sussex’s pregnancy announcement amid Kate Middleton’s Photoshop scandal.
“Unfortunately, there was an article in the Daily Mail saying that I admitted to doctoring the pregnancy announcement portrait I took of Harry and Meghan,” Misan Harriman explained in a video shared to Instagram on Wednesday, referring to a photo of the couple from 2020, when Markle revealed she was pregnant with her second child, Princess Lilibet.
“Apparently I was trading trees and meadows and admitted as much on an episode of a podcast called ‘Private Passions’.”
Harriman called the claim “crazy,” noting that the interviewer, Michael Berkeley, had asked him an “important question” after they discussed how he was able to almost shoot the Sussexes using specific technology on an iPad during the coronavirus lockdown.
“I understand that quite a lot when it comes to Harry and Meghan and I’m prone to deflect, ignore, try to get back in control and say what I’m there to say rather than any kind of intrigue and gossip, and that’s exactly what occurred.” , said Harriman about how he handles interviewers’ “top” questions.
The photographer then played a clip from the 2022 interview in which Berkeley asked Harriman, “They weren’t actually under a willow tree. They were lying out in the open in a meadow, weren’t they, Harry and Meghan, whenever you took a picture of them?
Harriman clearly answered “no” before explaining: “They lost their love at home in their backyard, comfortable, celebrating a new pleasure, a new life, the courage to look forward to every moment of life after such a loss they experienced with the miscarriage. . So, actually, it was a very happy image to have a good time in one’s own life.
Harriman criticized the Daily Mail for mincing its words in reporting that it had edited trees into the image.
“So this change may mean for me admitting that doctoring an image is insidious and truly harmful journalism,” Harriman said. “Any mention of meadows and willows came from the person doing the interview. Not my mouth.
Harriman said he did his best to ignore the question and focus on what he wanted to say.
“So to see an article saying, as a truth, that I did what I didn’t do, is extraordinary to me. And then trying to merge it with this current data cycle, what’s happening is just tragic to see,” he said of Middleton’s Photoshop debacle.
He confirmed that the only change made to the image was “the black and white color grade”.
“That’s it,” he said. “And the Daily Mail, and the journalist who wrote this, need to be better than that. It is harmful and unacceptable conduct.”
The Daily Mail article unfairly accusing Harrison of admitting to modifying the couple’s pregnancy announcement portrait came after the Princess of Wales was called out for modifying her Mother’s Day photo in the UK along with her children over the weekend.
Middleton, who has been keeping a low profile since her current abdominal surgery in January, shared what was believed to be a new photo with Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
However, inconsistencies in the picture lead to an onslaught of conspiracy theories about Middleton’s health and whereabouts.
For more pages six you are interested in…
Several photography companies, including AP and Reuters, confirmed that the image was edited and issued a “deadly announcement” on the snap.
Middleton later issued an apology and confirmed that the photo had been doctored.
“Like many novice photographers, I sometimes experiment with modifications. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” she wrote on X from the official account of the Prince and Princess of Wales. “I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. W.”
The altered image has sparked more concerns about Middleton’s mysterious whereabouts, considering she hasn’t been seen in public since December 2023, except for two blurred sightings this month where she was seen riding in a car near Windsor.
Middleton’s spokesperson assured Page Six that she was “doing well” and was always expected to return to public duties after Easter. A Kensington Palace source added: “The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a lovely day.”
Amid the controversy, sources close to Markle and Harry criticized Middleton’s failure.
“This is not a mistake Meghan would make,” sources close to the Sussexes told Page Six this week, adding that the couple “would have been annihilated” if they had released doctored photos.
The sentiment is true, considering Harriman has denied any changes have occurred with Harry and the “Fits” alum, who are also parents to 4-year-old Prince Archie.
