Meghan Markle and Prince Harry pals mock Kate Middleton Photoshop fail

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Insiders with close ties to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are piling on Kate Middleton’s recent Photoshop fail, telling Page Six: “This isn’t a mistake Meghan would ever make.”

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On Sunday, Kate, 42, shared a message of thanks with royal watchers as she posted a photo with her three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis for Mother’s Day.

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In the photo, which was shared on Instagram and X, Middleton was seen smiling alongside her kids and she also extended her hearty well wishes to other mothers celebrating their special day.

“Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day,” Kate wrote, signing off her message with the initial “C” for Catherine.

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But online sleuths immediately started to dissect the snap, which was credited to Prince William. For one, Kate wasn’t wearing her wedding ring or any other jewelry.

“PR STUNT GONE wrong again,” one person commented. “No wedding ring, weather is suddenly bright in London with green grass and green leaves even though London don’t look like that right now 😂😂😂😭 A MESSS do they think people in this generation are that dumb.”

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“That photo of Kate Middleton is so clearly AI,” another person speculated, with another follower describing the drama as “chilling.”

By the end of the day, four major news wire services — Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters, and AFP — had announced they were pulling the photo from their libraries amid concerns it was manipulated.

AP retracted the photo “because at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards.”

“The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand,” the agency added.

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On Monday, Kate apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo.

In a post on social media, Kate said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” her message added.

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Now, sources close to her brother-in-law, Harry, and his wife have have expressed unhappiness with Kate’s response to the unfolding scandal. “If Harry and Meghan had ever encountered the same issue they would have been annihilated,” one insider told Page Six.

“The same rules do not apply to both couples,” they added. “This isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make … she has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail.”

Despite a flurry of calls for the original photo to be released, Kensington Palace said it would not share the original unedited photograph.

British TV personality Piers Morgan was one of the biggest voices demanding to see the unaltered photo.

“The Palace should release the unedited photo of Kate & the kids asap. If it’s just a small bit of harmless retouching gone wrong, nobody will care. If they don’t release the original pic, the conspiracy theories they were trying to kill, will get way worse,” he wrote on X.

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Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the mishandled photo release “is damaging for the royals.”

“They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate,” he wrote on X. “Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.”

After its release early Sunday, the image was purported to be the first official photo of Kate since she underwent abdominal surgery in January.

Earlier this year, Kensington Palace announced that the princess completed a “successful” operation and that she would not resume her official duties before April.

But during her absence, the public obsessed over her disappearance from the royal limelight. After her hospitalization, “Where is Kate?” became an oft-asked question on social media.

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Now some people on social media have coined a term for all the Kate-related conspiracy theories surrounding her disappearance: “Katespiracy.”

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As the term trended into Tuesday afternoon, one person eerily asked: “If you think Kate was the one who edited the picture & knows how to use Photoshop, I have some Blockbuster stores to sell you. The lies have caught up with (the palace) & everything they put out will be heavily scrutinized.”

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