Misan Harriman Responds to Allegations He Photoshopped Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Family Portrait

Emily Burack

Misan Harriman, a photographer and longtime friend of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, will not be pulled into the royal photoshop drama.

After an article alleged Harriman used photoshop on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's pregnancy announcement in 2021, Harriman took to his social media to offer a firm reply.

"Hey, I, I just got back to reality from the Oscars," he begins (Harriman was nominated this past weekend, for his short film The After). "And unfortunately, there's been an article on The Daily Mail saying that I have admitted to doctoring, the pregnancy announcement portrait I took of Harry and Meghan. Apparently I was switching out trees and meadows. And I admitted to this in an episode of a podcast called Private Passions. This is crazy. I was interviewed, I think in 2022, by Michael Berkeley."

Harriman then explains to the camera, "I'm going to play you the segment on Private Passions. And we were talking about the technology. I used to shoot people during lockdown, many photographers were doing virtual shoots in those days and this is how we came onto the subject. Michael asked me a few leading questions in this interview. What I mean by leading questions, it's what some journalists do where they make a statement as fact and they hope you respond or add something to it. I get that a lot in regards to Harry and Megan and I tend to swerve ignore, try and get back on track, and say what I'm there to say rather than any sort of intrigue and gossip. And that's exactly what happened."

He then turns on audio from the 2022 BBC Radio Three show. In that interview, Harriman says, "My most well known virtual shoot is the portrait I took of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announcing their pregnancy. It's a very joyous image. The technology allows you to take over a phone or an iPad, and they can hear my voice and I can still press the shutter and compose with ease. It's extraordinary what you can do with technology."

Berkley then asks Harriman, "They weren't actually under a willow tree, they were lying outside in a meadow, Harry and Meghan, when you took a photo of them?" Harriman replies, "They were lost in, in their life at home, in their garden, comfortable celebrating new joy, new life, the fortitude of hoping for light in life after such a loss that they went through with a miscarriage. And so it really was a particularly joyous image to celebrate life itself."

He turns off the audio of the interview, and Harriman then says, "So, how that exchange could amount to me admitting to doctoring an image is insidious and really dangerous journalism. Any mention of meadows and willow trees came out of the person doing the interview, not my mouth. I did my best to ignore it and focus on what I wanted to talk about. So to see an article saying, as fact, that I did what I did not do is extraordinary to me—and then to try and merge it with this current news cycle of what's what's happening, it's tragic to see."

He ends his message, "It was a virtual shoot that I shot on an iPad, an 8 megapixel iPad. And the only thing that was changed is the black and white color grade. That's it in the Daily Mail. And the journalist that wrote this has to be better than this dangerous and unacceptable behavior."

You can watch the full video here:

And you can see the portrait Harriman took of the Sussexes in 2021 here:

While Harriman never mentioned Kate Middleton by name in his video, the news story that accused him of photoshopping the Sussexes is clearly linked to the fallout of the Princess of Wales admitting to editing a family photo that was released by Kensington Palace this past weekend. While Kate issued a personal apology, it has not done much to quiet conspiracy theories online, and has turned into a PR disaster for the Palace.

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