Palace reacts to reports of removing Meghan from Harry's birthday photo

Buckingham Palace has finally broken its silence amid reports of cropping Meghan Markle out of Prince Harry's birthday photograph.

King Charles III's office has reportedly confirmed it did not remove Meghan from Harry’s birthday photograph.

The picture, shared by King Charles and Prince William to mark Harry's milestone 40th birthday, was not cropped to remove the Duchess, the Palace has confirmed.

A close-up picture, captured on Harry and Meghan’s first overseas trip to Dublin as a married couple in 2018, was shared by the royal family and later the Prince and Princess of Wales to mark the Dukes 40th birthday on Sunday, captioning: “Wishing The Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!”

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

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace, according The Independent, has clarified that the image used was not cropped.