Oscar-nominated film director and photographer Misan Harriman, who has forged a close bond with the Duchess of Sussex over the years, took the intimate black and white snap back in 2001.
Speaking on the Private Passions podcast on BBC Radio 3, he described the “virtual shooting” process, saying: “It’s amazing what you can do with technology.”
He was asked: “They weren’t actually under a willow tree, but they were lying outside in a meadow, weren’t they, Harry and Meghan, when you took the photograph of them?”
Harriman, who has captured many intimate family moments between Meghan, Harry and their children, replied: “Hmm, yeah,” before adding: “It really was a particularly joyous image to celebrate life itself.”
There was no indication that the photo had been digitally altered when it was shown around the world.
Royal expert Angela Levin branded the couple’s camp “hypocrites” after the Sussex’s camp said it wasn’t “a mistake Meghan would ever make”.
The insiders told Page Six: “If Harry and Meghan had ever encountered the same issue they would have been annihilated. The same rules do not apply to both couples.”
Speaking of Meghan, the source added that she would not commit the same mistake as she has “a keen eye and freakish attention to detail”.
Levin told The Sun: “A tree was doctored in their photograph to create a special backdrop so how dare their camp say anything about Catherine’s?'”
Harriman has become a go-to photographer for the Sussexes as he has snapped precious moments of them.
This includes Meghan’s pregnancy annoucement in 2021 and Princess Lilibet’s first birthday portrait in 2022.
He opened up about his friendship with Meghan in a rare candid moment last month, as he described her as being like a “sister” to him.
Harriman told PEOPLE magazine: “I mean, her taste is impeccable. She is someone that looks for great depth of meaning and intention in what she engages in. And I believe she felt that in this film.
“To have her recognize this work is just something I’m really proud of. And I’m deeply thankful as well… little old me trying to get into this world that she knows so well.”
Harry and Meghan are notoriously private about their children, sharing only a few carefully selected pictures of them and raising them away from the spotlight in Montecito.
During his appearance in the Harry & Meghan documentary series Mr Harriman said of his work: “My images of them do all the talking.
“Portraiture for me, whether it is royalty or whether I’m in the tip of the spear in any of the civil rights movements that I care deeply about, is looking for truth. That’s fundamentally what my lens is there, to capture the human condition in full fidelity.
“Whether it’s beautiful children and the great love and fortitude of this couple, or whether it is when the world decided to refuse to look away from what happened to George Floyd, whether it’s climate action, the gay and trans community is hugely important for me — my lens is always at their disposal, always will be.”
