It’s the eve of Christmas and the royal families of Europe, after having displayed the greeting cards embellished with glossy images on social media or on their websites, inaugurated the Christmas villages and decorated the trees in the royal palaces, are about to begin the celebrations. Now even the royals’ preparation for the holidays has become a sort of ritual, partly shared with the public. In particular, people wait to see and comment on the Christmas cards, which have become an indispensable custom. Among the most anticipated and discussed are those of William and Kate, Harry and Meghan (although the latter are now outside the monarchical institution). Every time experts and admirers of the royals analyze the photographs, making comparisons, looking for hidden messages or errors. This year they would have found some jarring details in the Christmas cards of the Princes of Wales and the Dukes of Sussex and some on the web are already calling it a conspiracy.
Distance and sharing
December 16, 2024 Harry And Meghan have published their Christmas card, a sort of collage of six shots that summarize the events of the past year, also giving space to family life. In one of the photos, in fact, we see little Archie and Lilibet Diana running towards their parents, who are waiting for them smiling with open arms. The children are from behind, a pose that highlights the dukes’ desire to protect them from the media. The color of their hair is striking, the same as that of the prince.
Three days later, William and Kate’s card also arrived, a very tender photo taken from the video shot in Norfolk with which, last September, the princess announced the end of chemotherapy. In the image, to which the novelty of the “special effects” of snow and colored lights has been added, the future sovereigns embrace their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis. Let it be the postcard of the Sussexand that of the Princes of Wales communicate unity and love in a family atmosphere.
Yet, according to body language expert Judi James, this affinity is only apparent. The two cards couldn’t be more different: “Harry and Meghan’s postcard is primarily corporate…every photo feels like a PR exercise to show them in their ideal state of glittering, thoughtful, loving, enthusiastic and global success.” Photographs designed to be glossy and popular at the same time, “carefully selected” to arouse “admiration”.
The card of William And Kate is of a completely different nature: “…A family image…the body language…is multi-faceted and nuanced enough to subtly allude to everything they have faced…Whereas Harry and Meghan have quite understandably chosen to create distance…allowing their desire for privacy to dominate the photo…William and Kate seem to have treated the public like members of their family and shared their smiles and emotions with us.”
This is the closest look at the message that the postcards they would like to get to the public. From a technical point of view, however, the tabloids and social media users would have found gross errors and oddities that have fueled completely imaginative theories.
The photo disappeared and then reappeared
According to what Hello magazine revealed a few hours after publishing William and Kate’s Christmas card on social media, Kensington Palace he would have decided to delete the entire post and republish it shortly afterwards with a change: the image would have been enlarged. Many didn’t even notice this small change.
The reason could be very simple: the staff of principles he would have decided to focus attention on the reunited family and the happy faces. The impression is that the press officers did not carry out any tests before publication, in order to choose the most appropriate shot. Or those in charge of social media may have gotten confused and published the wrong version. Both options appear surprising, although, at least as far as the second one is concerned, the mistake can always happen.
Of course, some might argue that the Palace committed a misstep already last March, on the occasion of Mother’s Day, when Kate showed the now famous retouched photo of her with her children on social media. The princess took the blame for the publication of the shot and the clumsy edits. This version of events, however, was not too convincing, especially due to Kate’s prolonged absence from official life. This time, however, there doesn’t seem to be any particular background. In any case, given the precedents, it would be better if Kensington Palace were a little more meticulous on these matters.
Harry and Meghan’s “conspiracy” postcard
The issue regarding the Sussex card is very different. According to some social media users, quoted by the Daily Mail, the photograph published by the dukes would have been modified with Photoshop or even through artificial intelligence. It would not just be a question of classic aesthetic adjustments, some say, but of a real one “digital alteration” of reality, of the daily life of the dukes. Why on earth would Harry and Meghan do something like this? Conspiracy theorists have a ready (though absurd) answer: little ones Archie and Lilibet Diana would not exist. They would never have been born. The Sussexes would only make people believe they had children.
The hypothesis is delusional but, unfortunately, there are those who consider it reliable. According to some, the prince and his wife had sex “lend” of children, or they would have “rented for the holidays” actors who could impersonate them. There are also those who believe that the little princes would have been created with the help of artificial intelligence. The decision to show them from behind would have nothing to do with privacy, but it would be proof of this assumption handling. Even the choice to show a low resolution image would be part of this crazy strategy designed to hide who knows what “truth”.
Conspiracy theorists, however, forget that the card, once printed, is small in size and there are six photos, so it is normal for the image quality to not be flawless. There’s more: someone is convinced that there is something strange in the angle formed by the feet of Meghanin the length of the left arm and in the gait of children. On X a user wrote: “Meghan’s arm is twice as long as a normal arm. The black dog has three legs…Both children are the same height despite their two-year age difference.”
It’s not like that, just look better: the duchess she’s leaning forward, almost leaning towards Archie. This may have created the false impression regarding the arm. It is clear, then, that Archie is taller than his sister, but we also take into account the fact that the children are not still and straight, but are running, so they lean forward, making it more difficult to guess their true height. The black dog has all four paws: by enlarging the image with a normal cell phone zoom we can see the final part of the outline of the left rear paw, which is hidden by the right front paw.
“Retouched”, but “authentic”
The Daily Mail asked the opinion of photographer James Middleton, a Photoshop expert who has no relation to Kate, who preferred not to comment on the alleged manipulations to the photograph, believing that it is too small for appropriate checks. However, he pointed out that the alleged errors found by some could be optical illusions created by “plays of light”. In any case he did not even consider the idea of children created withartificial intelligencecertain that the shot is authentic.
Another photographer, Glenn Gratton, from the W8 Media agency, wanted to specify that “everything is too perfect”from poses to expressions but, although the postcard is “an image for the Instagram world we live in, is not (a product) of AI.” Finally he added: “I have no doubt that it has been doctored, as many other people do with their card before publishing it.”
The Sussexes would have limited themselves to the changes that many like to make to make their photographs more fascinating and get a few more hearts or likes. Archie and Lilibet are certainly not creatures of artificial intelligence: the fact that several people believe in such a bizarre theory, however, puts us face to face with a disturbing reality, in which many seem to have lost the capacity for logical reasoning and not they would have the tools neither to distinguish reality from fantasy, nor to intuit a possible truth plot.
Why on earth would Harry and Meghan pretend to have children, absurdity that would even make them question their mental health? In general, what sense would it make for such prominent figures or for ordinary people to build a life that doesn’t exist, a castle of enormous, unjustifiable lies that anyone could bring down in an instant and without much effort?
Perhaps we need to rethink our relationship with social.
Avoid, when the hypothesis of a conspiracy is presented, following the easy path, that of the group that “thinks” for us and learning the art of unhurried observation, reasoning, doubt and questions.