Last Friday would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 97th birthday. To celebrate, all of the royal social media accounts published the photo above, taken at Balmoral last summer, just weeks before her passing. I remember something about this last summer, in that there was a lot of conversation about how QEII “invited” all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to Balmoral for one last slumber party or something. As you can see, many of the kids were all there at the same time, including Prince George, Louis, Charlotte, the three Tindall kids (Mia, Lena and Lucas), the two Phillips girls (Isla and Savannah) plus Lady Louise and James, then-Viscount Severn. The missing great-grandchildren are Prince Archie, Princess Lilibet, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi and August Brooksbank.
Post-Jubbly, “the queen’s last Balmoral summer” was the “reason” why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex simply had to return to the UK, so they could schlep all the way to Balmoral just to spend a few minutes with a very ill queen. Except no one could keep their stories straight about whether QEII actually invited the Sussexes or whether the Sussexes declined the invitation. Keep in mind, the whole reason the Sussexes visited the UK in both April and June of last year was specifically to see QEII, only to have her people leak a stream of bullsh-t about how the Sussexes “demanded” to bring a photographer, only to be “shut down.” Courtiers were openly bragging about how they limited the Sussexes’ time with QEII back in June as well. The Jubbly was the last time the whole family was in the same place at the same time – surely it would have been the perfect moment to get photos with the extended family, right? Of course not. Now, with the publication of this photo, the British media is trying to make a point of saying Archie and Lili were excluded, etc. These people are exhausting.
Taken just a few weeks before her death, we now know that the late Queen was in the last flush of life, making the most of what she perhaps knew would be her final holiday, the last time she would see many of these children. The homely, jolly image was taken by the Princess of Wales and released to mark what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 97th birthday on Friday.
But while it will undoubtedly be lauded, there are notable absentees. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were more than 5,000 miles away in Montecito, California – the only members of the immediate family who did not spend precious time with Queen Elizabeth last summer. Reports swirled at the time that Balmoral staff had been told to expect the Sussexes at some point during the break. But, in the event, they were a no-show, with some sources suggesting they had never been invited.
To cap off this sad tale, we now know that Prince Harry failed to make it to his grandmother’s bedside on the day she died, despite a desperate, last-minute dash from Windsor. The Sussexes had flown over to the UK on Sept 3, five days before the Queen died. Archie and Lilibet are not the only great-grandchildren absent from this family portrait – Princess Eugenie’s son August and Princess Beatrice’s daughter Sienna are also missing. But the Yorks did all spend valuable time at Balmoral last August, along with both Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York.
The Sussexes had flown back with their children for the Platinum Jubilee in June, the one-and-only time one-year-old Lilibet met her namesake. The late Queen is said to have banned Harry and Meghan from taking a professional photographer to Windsor Castle to capture the moment amid fears that any picture would be shared with US television networks. The Sussexes may one day release their own family snaps of their children with the late Queen.
But for now, we are reliant on the Princess’s deft hand and meticulous eye to depict the monarch not as head of state but as grandmother – and great-grandmother – surrounded by the younger generation.
This isn’t the flex they think it is. Instead of making QEII look like a doting grandmotherly figure to the nation, her memory is being burnished as someone too out of it to stop the racists in her court from repeatedly and publicly snubbing her mixed-race relations. Once again, the Windsors look like they’re gleefully putting out the “Whites Only” sign. Besides that, conspiracies are already afoot that at least one kid (Louis) was Photoshopped in. (I actually think the lighting issue would be “solved” if there was a lamp nearby, to Louis’s left.)
So, apparently they photoshopped Louis into the picture with the Queen?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The “recollections may vary” people 😑😑😑😑😑😑#RoyalFamily pic.twitter.com/dNifzsBKed— Queen Zee 👑🇿🇦 (@marzodi) April 22, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Princess of Wales/Kensington Palace.
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- North America Rights Only – Edinburgh, UK -20220628- Queen Elizabeth II attends an armed forces act of loyalty parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, as they mark her platinum jubilee in Scotland. The ceremony is part of the Queen’s traditional trip to Scotland for Holyrood Week. -PICTURED: Queen Elizabeth II -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- Queen Elizabeth II attending the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland (also known as the Royal Company of Archers) Reddendo Parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday June 30, 2022.,Image: 704275652, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government.,Image: 719993378, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jane Barlow / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government.,Image: 719993385, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jane Barlow / Avalon
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- North America Rights Only – Edinburgh, UK -20220628- Queen Elizabeth II attends an armed forces act of loyalty parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, as they mark her platinum jubilee in Scotland. The ceremony is part of the Queen’s traditional trip to Scotland for Holyrood Week. -PICTURED: Queen Elizabeth II -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
The fact that there isn’t a photo with Archie and Lilibet with the Queen during Jubilee says a lot. That was the perfect time for a photo with all the great grandkids. It was clear she was near the end last year.
She just looks propped up in this picture and they propped her up for the jubbly. Propping her up for one picture during it with all the children wouldn’t have been impossible.
Look at her eyes — she’s not really looking at the camera or the photographer, it’s like she’s not all there. It reminds me of many of the photos we have of my grandmother in her last months. She would be cheerful and chatty, “oh yes, take a picture!”, but then almost immediately drift off and you’d have to call her name to get her to at least look in the right direction for a photo. Some of my cousins and I only have a couple of “good” photos with her from that time because most of the others just make us sad.
She also looks heavily medicated. Doubt she even realized what was happening in the moment.
I agree with all of comments above. The late queen seems off or heavily medicated. It was a picture taken that could be used in the future by the rest of the royal family after her death to promote themselves and to boost their popularity! They all knew that the end was near…
She hardly looks “jolly,” that’s for sure.
There was also twitter discussion that the Queen was photoshopped in as well. The couch on her right, our left, has problems.Louise and Viscount Severn look a little wrong too. No light at all for them.
If you look carefully at the pictures where she is standing up alone, you can see her hands are blue.
She was going under medical treatments.
I think qe2 was happy to be with the (great)grand kids but she knew Kate was setting her up. Eugenia and Beatrice children would’ve just left. You telling me they couldn’t planned a group photo. At least Archie and lilbeth was overseas at the time.
Kate and Zara are trashy and they show it over and over.
Yep. Waity has been accused of Photoshopping that picture. Another step on the rake moment for KP.
He’s so clearly photoshopped in – the light source on his hair is so different from the light source on everyone else. Even if there were a lamp it would have created a light source on the girls standing next to him.
I could *almost* come up with an explanation of the light source issue like some weirdly place light source close to Louis, though it would not say anything positive about Kate as a photographer and her composition skills. Fine for family gatherings, not so fine for keen top-fotog to royal family.
But the bleeding of the color of the rose into Louis’s left sleeve? There’s too much of it to be an artifact and it’s exactly what would happen if someone was trying to edit something in or out of a photo and it wasn’t good or careful enough with their editing software tools. Fine for sharing pics with friends and family or printing at a resolution where those details wouldn’t matter. Not so fine for Official Palace Photo.
Not to mention Louis position! He’s far away from his 2 siblings. Usually, they make a point of putting all of them together!
From a composition standpoint, the fact that the highlight on Louis’s hair is where it is, and is so bright is off for a couple of reasons:
# 1 it’s distracting. Not in a huge way, but in a “our eyes get drawn to the strongest highlights and lowlights” way, particularly things that are a big contrast. The highlights on Louis’s hair are the brightest point in the photo, drawing the viewers eye way off to the right and away from most of the rest of the people
# 2 the only other part of the image that’s close to that brightness is the highlights in the hair of the girl sitting to his right. (Those on George’s face come close) But they are coming from a completely different light source and are on the opposite side of her head from Louis’s. That kind of incongruity makes the viewer‘s brain go “wait, what? That’s not right, what’s going on?”. Which draws the eye to the incongruity even it it’s not a conscious thought.
#3 The person at the center of the photo, QE II, has no highlight or other brightness in her image that is anywhere near the brightness of those two highlights, so even though she’s in the center of the picture and the other key elements of the photo are arranged around her, she doesn’t naturally hold the focus, visually (because of #1)
Also, RE #1, if I was composing this pic in the room or fixing it afterwards, whatever that light object is on the table next to him (paper?) would be gone. The tablet and toy could stay, because their non-bright tone doesn’t distract and the toy kind of adds to the charm. I might also be eyeing that triangle of fabric on the console in the back, just for the clutter, though probably would decide it’s not worth messing with.
@North of Boston – It’s also odd that Louis’ left hand isn’t on the couch. Doesn’t look like his right hand is either though hard to tell for sure as it’s partially blocked by the hair of the girl sitting in front of him. The three children next to him in that row each have both their hands on the couch (the one at the end is sitting on it as well), which would be natural to do, since they’re standing so close to it.
Look at the reflection on the table next to Louis, it clearly has a light of some kind on it. The children are composed by height. Smallest, then tallest, then medium in that row.
I don’t think Louis is photoshopped. You can see there’s light on the table and on the end of couch too. He just reflected it better. The picture could have been composed better so that Louis was next to his siblings, but otherwise it’s fine.
That table has an odd placement, where if you considered that it was moved to make room for Louis makes sense, but then there is another table directly behind it and him that is holding the vase with flowers in it. It’s strange that they would have two tables on one side of the couch and that they would move one and not the other for the photo. The other strange things happening on that side, is the white paper (?) that’s on the table that has a weird streaking line that goes straight up. There is also the strange way the rug on that side that seems to be next to the couch has a breaking point where it isn’t aligned towards the bottom. It is more obvious when you look at the transition from the couch to the rug on the other side of the couch. Speaking about the differences on each side of the couch, it is very obvious the photoshopping that was done on the arm of the couch where Louis is. The right side from our view is stretched and looks wider and less curved than the other side and the tufting of the couch is obviously moved in some places and disproportionate in other parts. That to me is what makes it even more obvious that it was photoshopped. The lighting can probably be explained away, but the deformity of the couches arm, the weird white streak of the paper and the carpet which looks as if it has been cut and pasted in some areas is impossible to explain away.
100% photoshopped..zoom in on Louis. You can see the bad snip around his head
Louis AND Elisabeth are both photoshopped!! With Elli you can even see it clearly on her skirt on the left and the sofa!!
God, this is so unhinged and pathetic! Now they lie for the whole world to see
I agree with those saying that Louis was photoshopped in, however, the Queen? What I will say is that the Queen sitting on the sofa with the kids is not anything like the Queen of a few weeks later in that other photo in this thread. Granted, she could have had a hair dye job but her face and neck look different, she seems much thinner and her head is much lower. In the photos that we know that we’re taking days before her death she wouldn’t even be able to sit and look straight into the camera without throwing herself way back.
Also, Louise and James are very very tall kids! The proportions aren’t right. This could support the theory that is an older picture that Kate has photoshopped, and that Lucas and or Mia are photoshopped in as well.
Yeah @Sam, I agree that it looks like both Louis and the Queen are photoshopped into the picture.
Plus, Louis is not casting any sort of shadow on the coach arm rest, which is in itself slightly highlighted from a source to the right, presumably behind him. It’s not plausible in the physical realm.
James Viscount-Severn’s pic is available from stock shutter. It was with his mother in a group setting. Take a look at his hand, he was also photo shopped, reserve judgement on his sister.
If this photo is a lie, then why would the narrative that accompanied it be true.
There are undercurrent of several differing stories and conflicts, NONE of them involving the Sussexes.
In all fairness to QE-II, Archie & Lilibet have spent the bulk of their young lives in Canada (Archie) and CA. Prince Harry has made mention of the fact that the Queen video chatted often with the kids in CA. Since Harry was reportedly her favorite grandchild, I doubt she would intentionally snub Archie & Lilibet.
^^ And also, it’s quite possible that the Queen was not well enough to pose for pics around her grands and great-grands in the last weeks of her life at Balmoral. She looks fairly out of it in the image of her that’s being used.
The doctored photo appears to be the brainchild of W&K and KP, trying on purpose to be both inclusionary and exclusionary. If it’s true that one part was photoshopped, that opens the door for several images to have been tweaked.
My theory is that Louis was originally sitting in the center on the sofa. KP & the Keens strategized to photoshop in an image of the Queen, thus a separate pic of Louis had to be photoshopped in on one side. I guess it’s possible James and Louise were not there either. I’m not sure.
I think Louis was there. I think someone with a bad eye at editing edited the picture.
Everyone looks off except the people who weren’t “touched up”.
This looks more like a party organized by W&K with the royal members that they get along with. It’s also made up of the children of those who don’t have regular jobs. And where’s the “blended family” look? No Cam’s grands or Wolfie? These people are tiresome. A&L were there for the jubbly even if not at Balmoral and a photo could have been arranged then. This pic is put out for the entire world but, oh no, H&M might share a picture of QE with their children? What tools the royals are.
Maybe the reason why Beatrice and Eugenie weren’t invited was because Beatrice wanted to include Wolfie and that would have destroyed their ultra white photo-op.
“ The Jubbly was the last time the whole family was in the same place at the same time – surely it would have been the perfect moment to get photos with the extended family, right? Of course not.”
I’m actually surprised they didn’t do a family photo of all the Queen’s children and grandchildren. It was the perfect opportunity. And something I think the Queen would have liked (even if others didn’t). And I also think that Harry and Meghan have their own pictures of the Queen with their kids. I’m sure tons of snaps were taken when they visited. There is no way Harry wouldn’t want to memorialize the moment.
To add to the comments above, during the jubilee, the queen seemed definitely in better health than a month prior her death.
Equality: That’s exactly what it looks like.
Yup, the fact that the York kids are missing tells me this was a W/K arrangement that they either weren’t invited to attend–or didn’t want to attend because they can’t stand their angry cousin and his mean-spirited wife. It says nothing about the Montecito royals, but tells me a lot about the RF dynamics.
Yeah, it def makes that whole idea of a modern blended family really look like the bullshit it is.
when I saw this pic I was taken aback by how tone death this makes them look. And they really have no idea that they are making them selves look bad do they? They actually think this is a good idea.
But they are very much not a racist family.
Kate Klux Klan strikes again.
Someone was also trying really hard to make it look like the three Wales kids are blond when they aren’t and ain’t ever gonna be again without the assistance of some industrial strength murder-cover-up-grade bleach. There’s no way Kate did Nazi that.
LOL 😂, the photo is definitely photo-shopped, probably in more ways than one. Charlotte may have her hair highlighted at times. But in general, during the summer months, it’s not unusual for dirty blond hair or light brown hair to turn lighter in the sun. I’m suspicious of whether or not both Louis and the Queen were actually in the snap. The Queen may not have been feeling well enough to gather around all of her young relatives, weeks before her death. Louis may have been taking a nap, or he was just somewhere else at the time.
The photo is a peculiar offering, in the sense that it seems created to prove something or other. The ratchet royals rarely even reference the Queen these days, except to use her in some way. Not for actual genuine loving or sentimental reasons either. This is the total opposite of Harry’s loving, anecdotal memories of his grandmother, shared in his book. There’s also a beautiful passage by Harry describing a poignant, rare interaction he had with the Queen Mother at a family barbecue, a few months before her death.
I just spit out my coffee
Look at the right of Louis and then look just above where a triangle of textile shows up. The picture there: is that Archie and Megan? With Harry behind that plant, presumably?
It’s hard to say, but it looks like Kate holding a baby.
No. That looks like a picture Beatrice and her daughter.
No the royalists have zoomed into the picture. It’s a picture of Beatrice’s husband and their daughter.
^^ Yes exactly. I never noticed the background photos previously. Most are fairly indistinct. But that one is noticeable and it’s obviously Edo holding baby Sienna, with Beatrice standing next to them. The next best thing to not being present, I suppose. Still missing though, are August, Prince Archie, and Princess Lilibet.
It’s still not a clear photo of Sienna, and no official photos of her have ever been posted by Edo on his Instagram account, aside from the baby footprint birth announcement. I think Bea has a private Instagram account. Eugenie’s account is public.
Dear UK Media and Viper Courtiers (and your principals), you are going after a 4 year old and a 2 year old. Just when you cannot stoop any lower, you show us new depths of your racism, lies and bullying. No use telling you to stop because you are profit handsomely from character assassination, white supremacy, outright lies and misleading the public. The Queen did not “ban” anything. Her viper courtiers & Angela Kelly had a tight grip on her in her final years. Not that the Queen was completely innocent, but this idea of “banning” and “punishing” comes from the courtiers, the UK press, and Charles/Camilla/William/Kate. The Queen was delighted by Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, sent them gifts, and stayed in touch with H&M. H&M likely have private photos of their children with the Queen. If they want to show them publicly one day, they will.
Great comment LB. With your permission, I would like to post this to my Twitter, dropped to you. If you prefer I didn’t post it I will understand. Cheers. 🐨 🦘 🇦🇺
Thanks @AnnaKist. No problem to post on Twitter. No need to drop to me. You can just copy it.
I agree. They are so disgusting to push this narrative. I am sure there are photos of the Queen with Archie and Lili. But agreed that M & H are not going to stoop to the level of having them published to show up these gross commentaries.
I absolutely believe there are pictures of the Family Sussex with the Queen, but I don’t know that they would ever release them.
^^ Yes, for sure there are plenty of private royal family photos which won’t be made public. Bea & Edo for example have yet to share any public pics of Sienna, and we’ve seen very few clear images of Wolfie. There is a fan or palace staff-related Instagram @princessbeatriceroyal which posted a distant video of Edo holding baby Sienna, as with Bea and Wolfie, they part from relatives or friends and enter a vehicle wearing casual clothes.
This same account has a cool montage of Bea as a baby held in a series of pics by her mother, her dad, and her grandmother, with the Queen Mother; along with baby photos of Princess Elizabeth held by father, mother, and grandma Queen Mary; and then a relic painting of Queen Vicky holding her youngest daughter, Beatrice, modern Bea’s namesake.
There’s also a rare video on this same account of Fergie holding toddler Bea on BP balcony. Bea grabs her mother’s hat. Diana, standing next to them, laughs and tries to help Fergie, as Bea swings around to grab Diana’s hand. Young Prince Harry is standing in front of them. Such a sweet moment in time. There’s also a photo-shopped pic of Bea in her borrowed wedding dress standing next to young QE-II who’s wearing the same dress. LOL, they’re shown holding hands. 😄
Wolfies mother may want her son to have privacy and not so many photos of him taken. Edo may want privacy for him also. Siena has not been seen so maybe he has privacy concerns for the children.
The Queen looks confused in the photo. I would have never released this. As for Archie and Lili not being there, I believe they were never invited and as Kaiser said the perfect opportunity for a family photo was the Jubilee. The Palace bragging that they limited the time Harry and his family could spend with the Queen only makes them look bad.
A non-invitation is a blessing from God.
These people and their blatant racism make me nauseous.
How sad and hurtful they truly are.
You remember Harry saying they care more about how it looks than feel? Well in this case and so many more they obviously don’t care how it looks or feels.
Archie and lili are definitely better off without these vile racist I’m their lives.
As I recall, Harry was never a regular at the Balmoral summer gatherings and that predated his marriage to Meghan. Apparently Balmoral reminds him of that horrible day when his mother died and he rarely visited there again, usually spent his summer abroad doing conservation and charity work.
Yeah.. and neither was William.. as I recall the wails rarely stayed more than a few days there… it always was a very brief and reluctant interlude to their long summer vacation.
Harry might not have enjoyed being at Balmoral after his mother’s death, but I can’t imagine that he would avoid having his children join in a final photo with their great grandmother. There was also an even better opportunity to take such a photo earlier when the Queen was in better health and all of her family was around during the Jubbly.
I do wonder why they keep including Louise and James in these photos. They’re the Queen’s grandchildren, not her great grandchildren. They should be in photos with William, Harry, Peter, Zara, Beatrice and Eugenie, not lumped in with all (some) of the babies.
I noticed this, too. They’re younger than their first cousins, but still on the same level of the family tree. It’s strange to include them in this photo. Especially Louise who is actually now a grown woman. Weird.
They were probably photo-shopped, at least James was, because of the optics of a new alliance of the three women in the royal family, Camilla, Kate and Sophie.
And yet we were told that Harry and Meghan were prohibited from taking pics of Archie and Lili with QEII because it might leak to the press.
But KKKate is free to publish pics of the fully white great grandkids with QEII.
Stop telling people that talking about racists being racist is wrong. It makes one look sus.
💯💯💯
It’s a rather breathtaking slap in the face, isn’t it? We don’t want them publishing photos of their kids with The Queen! Less than a year later, oh, look, here’s one of Kate the Great’s photos of the kids with TQ! Cruelty is the point.
The best time to get the family photo would have been after Trooping when they were all together.The courtiers are just nasty men.
So family photos shouldn’t be taken unless the entire family is there?
I’ll turn this back at you. So family photos can’t be taken when the entire family is there?
No wonder Harry said he “wanted to be sure she had the right people around her”? That was in Windsor, pity her OWN SON didn’t feel the same way about her when she was in Balmoral. Sorry but this picture screams “Racists are us” and the poor Queen looks asif her pain medication has been upped. Because from my own experience I know, that evey time they up my morphine, I spend a couple of days looking as blank as she does in this picture. It was selfishness on khates part, selfishness and trying to be queen bee, as in “look at all the access I have to everyone”!
Charles barged in to see.the queen about the Camilla statement. She was announced to be covid positive soon after. She was not treated well. I’ll surprised Kate allowed children other than her own to be in the photo.
I’m almost certain that Harry and Meghan have private photos of Archie and Lili with their great-grandmother. Of course they would want to commemorate that moment, especially with it being the only time Lili met her namesake. What worries me is that the cruelty of the courtiers limiting their time with the Queen, and the way they hurled public accusations that H&M would somehow “exploit” QEII by bringing in a private photographer, may have somewhat tainted those photos for the Sussexes. Imagine explaining that to Archie and Lili when they get older, that they were nearly banned from having those photos at all because of a bunch of racists — PROUD racists at that, who publicly boasted about limiting their access.
As a sidenote, conspicuous absences and Photoshop aside, I do think this a nice photo. It’s good to see the kids — particularly George, Charlotte, and Louis — looking like KIDS, rather than dressed up as Victorian dolls, stiff and uncomfortable.
I agree. I also think that QEII had a burner phone and communicated with Harry with it. Of course Harry would’ve taken the babies to see HMTQ when they were all there for the Jubilee. Even if only briefly because her health was failing.
I’ll also go to my grave thinking that HMTQ coordinated and insisted on that solo cat walk for H&M into the church. They were snubbed from entering with all the rest of the royal rats, so she gave them their very own entrance 😀
Totally agree.
I thought it was known that the queen gave them their separate procession. It was carefully orchestrated.
They are mostly dresses in Victorian outfits and fauntleroy looks for the boys.
It is a nice pic, would’ve better without photo-shopping.
People (including Harry) have to accept the fact that Archie and Lili are not accepted into that family, and that’s fine. They will release photos of Charles and his three grandchildren at the coronation and his 75th birthday, and people will cry again.
@NERMINE I don’t think it’s fine for Archie and Lili to not be accepted into their own family. And what is this about people crying when Chuck does this again? Being justifiably angry about a family that heads-up a freaking church and held up as some standard to aspire to, all while being bankrolled into unimaginable luxury and privilege by the public isnt simply “crying.” Your comment seems quite callous, but perhaps I am missing something.
So do you want Archie and Lili to be surrounded by people who hate them so badly just for PR pics? This family will never accept them, so I don’t understand all this crying every time they release a group photo of the grandkids…
The part you aren’t getting is it’s not “fine”, and no one needs to “accept the fact” that an incredibly privileged, taxpayer funded family intentionally and repeatedly abuses the bi-racial family members.
The royals are public servants, right? So we should all just shrug and say, “oh well, long live the king!”
They are public servants who receive welfare from the taxes of their “subjects”, many of whom look a whole lot more like Meghan than anyone in this photo. But it’s fine….
I think that it is very obvious to most that this family is racist towards their biracial family members. Calling it out isn’t any attempt or desire for them to be surrounded by their racist abusers, but us just simply calling it out for what it is…racism. Not everyone is okay with being silent when they see racists try and pawn something off as being an innocent photo where they controlled the situation to avoid including the family members who are people of color so that the only ones acknowledged are the white family members.
It’s not fine, not fine at all. It’s horrible. I’m sure H&M have learned to deal with it, but racism is hurtful, being shunned by your family is hurtful, being hounded by a country’s tabloid press every day of your lives is hurtful. No, not fine, not at all.
Charles has five grand children and even he can’t make them never mentioned. This is a bad reflection on him
These people are racist bullies. They continue to exclude the biracial family members from every event. Then they like clockwork claim that they have extended some type of olive branch to the biracial family members while they refuse any grace or show of kindness from the Sussexes. Refusals to every invite extended from the Sussexes but expect complete servitude from the Sussexes. They obviously knew that the Queen was very ill and wasn’t going to be around much longer, yet they publicly tried to shame the Sussexes from seeing the Queen for an extended period of time and from taking photos with her and their two young children. These racists hate the biracial family members so much that they tried to prevent a great grandmother from enjoying valuable time with her biracial great grandchildren and memorializing that moment with a photo. They are so comfortable in their racism and hate that they are okay with the fact that one day Archie and Lili will see the cruelty they showed them in preventing them from having important time with their great grandmother simply because of they are biracial. This obviously photoshopped photo, based on the poorly photoshopped arm of the couch, was just another attempt of this racist family to other their biracial family members publicly. With the revelations of the leaked letter and the response by Meghan to leaked accusations, I hope these people never see a day without Karma knocking on their door.
Well-stated Nerd.
They are a hateful bunch and the Struggly is going to be a #CoronationSoWhite for all the world to see. Releasing this photo just highlights the family’s racism.
The Royals sure do give the impression that their racism is a point of national pride for Britain.
😂😂👍, @beverly. I am reminded of Boris Johnson’s disgusting response when asked about the Royals and the propriety of their denying the US Feds the opportunity to interview Andrew:
The Royals are irreproachable. 🤡
There are Brits, an awful lot of them, that actually believe that the Royals can do no wrong, or if they do wrong it is then right when they do it (but only when they do it!). Many look to photos like these to determine what the Queen thinks, as though there is a hidden message in them. For the rest of us, they rely on plausible deniability.
So I am very sure that racist Brits just love the photo of the white grandchildren and great-grandchildren. How better to advertise your othering of the Sussex children? How better to soothe the racist angst about Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet ever being welcomed into the greater family? There is no better way for them than having it advertised by their revered Royal family.
In the context that it was presented, that the Queen is surrounded by her much-loved great-grandchildren, this photo is almost as bad as the one of Meghan and Harry with the Australian politician and his wife, the latter of which is throwing a racist hand symbol.
The photo of the queen on her own is in a different room to the one with the kids (different carpet) so it doesn’t prove there was a lamp to the right, I don’t know if Louis was photoshopped in or not but it’s defo been touched up and not the ‘natural’ family snap by a brilliant photographer that they make it out to be
Twitter posters are analyzing this it looks like Louis was airbrushed in.
I don’t think the kids are ever allowed in that fancy reception room! This is a room with furniture & things that can be destroyed without heartbreak. I do love that tartan carpeting, though! I want that for some room in my apartment, I just can’t figure out which one.
I feel sad looking at the Queen in this photo, it should be labelled “Dazed and confused”.
Kate Middleton sucks for manipulating an old lady who looks like she’d rather be propped up in bed with a cup of tea and not surrounded by the noise from all these kids. At least Louis noped out of this one?
Memo to Kate: you need to get some Photoshop lessons, the bleeding of the rose on Louis’s shirt is a fail.
As is whatever that brown blurriness is adjacent to the sofa just under the arm on the right side. And I cannot for the life of me figure out the legs on that table!
What stuck out to me is that all the kids have their hands on the back of the sofa, but Louis’s arms are clamped tight to his sides, as if was sitting straight with his hands on his knees. Things that make you go hmmmm…
@Jaded – yes, mentioned this above, Louis not having his hands on the sofa makes me suspect photoshopping more than where the light is on his head, etc. And something about his posture also suggests to me he’s sitting, like on a stool, though why would he be? And even if he was, it would still be natural to have his hands on the sofa right in front of him, like all the other kids next to him. It looks to me like his image was lifted from another picture where he was seated, and added in here. To balance the picture, you do need someone in that spot, so likely he was intended to be there. Wonder if he was having trouble standing still/was fooling around too much, so they decided to take some pictures without him and photoshop him in later.
Posting this picture of all the children of the Queen’s offspring from preferred children and grandchildren is not a good look. Not having a photo of all the great grandchildren with the Queen shows that this family is rotten at its core. However, I don’t think this picture itself is an issue. My extended family lives far apart and whenever we get together there is always nearly an hour spent on group photos of every possible permutation of group photo. Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids, with each family, each generation, etc. Now we like to go back and figure out who is and isn’t at each gathering.
This family is terrible. Their group photos are always interesting because of who is and isn’t in them, but this is starting to get into conspiracy level shit, when the answer is that these people are publicly and openly awful. Going on about Louis being photoshopped in (when there is clearly a light on that side, look at the table top and sofa arm) discredits the Sussex side, rather than making the RF look bad.
They don’t have a photo of all the great grandchildren with the Queen. That is the dark secret in this photo. That is what Poirot would point out in solving the mystery.
Honestly, I think what terrifies them is that Harry and Meghan’s kids don’t look all that different from their cousins.
This isn’t a conspiracy to snub the Sussexes. Kate probably always takes her camera when the extended family gets together.
The adults and the two teenagers probably knew this was the Queen’s last summer at Balmoral. Kate most likely asked the Queen’s permission to take a photo of her with the great-grandchildren, plus Louise & James, who were visiting. The Queen agreed because she trusted Kate.
Only the kids that descend from “working royals” are included in this “family” photo
Working royals? Since when Zara and Peter are working royals? And I believe Beatrice could be considered part time royal with her work as a patron in several charities…
Beatrice is not doing royal work Charles does not allow it.
Only Anne’s and Charles’s grandchildren are here- the two working royals. One way to look at it. Of course, ALL of Anne’s grandchildren are here, and only half of Charles. Be prepared to see ALL of Camilla’s grandchildren in future portraits and only half of Charles’s. It’s shameful that Charles cannot release a portrait of his whole family. What a father!
Bea and Eugenie’s patronages of charities are on their own time and money. Don’t be giving the royals any credit for their work.
My question is, if this photo was taken during the Queen’s last summer, why wasn’t Louis there is the first place with Charlotte and George? Why did he have to be photo-shopped into the picture? Without him there in the first place, the grouping would have looked a bit unbalanced.
I remember another picture, taken by a professional photographer of the Queen and her great-grandchildren (famous for Mia’s hand-bag holding) on either a significant birthday or a jubilee. Louise and James were there as well. If it was taken at Balmoral, it would be for the reason that Sophie and her family seemed to camp there the whole summer instead of making a brief annual visit.
I remember that photo, too, by Annie Leibovitz:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/21/queen-family-portrait-grandchildren-90th-birthday
Compare & contrast, that’s all I can say.
Sheesh. I thought my family was completely fecked up. The Windsors are insane; bitter, nasty, vengeful, greedy, lazy… the sooner, this monarchy implodes the better. Maybe not for them, and it will still generate stories for another century, so loads more click bait and money.
Pretty much every day of my school life here in Australia, we pledged allegiance to the Queen. She and her monarchy and family were held up as paragons of… well, everything. We were migrants, and yet my mother fell for it all. My sister much older than me tells me I took after our dad. He died when I was five, but the story is, she tells makes me know how alike we were. Thank goodness for suspicion hey.😂
I blame Kate. She did this on purpose. What a total waste of DNA she is . How much whiter do they want Archie and Lily’sl skin to be? How much redder should their hair be? And blue eyes!!!
This is from the wife of “We are not a racist family.” Let me tell Khate and that moron she’s married to that you go to he’ll the same for lying as you do for cheating and stealing. I know there were no pictures, but she could have mentioned their names. What kind of woman makes war on children? Lets call her Botox Barbie, although that’s far too kind. This will come back to bite her on her bony arse.
Poor James never smiles.
I have seen candid photos of James where he is smiling and/or laughing, so I think this is his photo portrait-taking face! On what sitcom was there a character who could only ever make a crazy face when he tried to smile for a picture?! Seinfeld?
Chandler on Friends.
😂😆👍
Wasn’t the photo of her standing taken just days before she passed?
I bet she was in poor health, much more than was made public, for quite a bit of time.
Other than as a family photo, who actually cares?
Get a grip, people, the entire line of BRF offspring are wealthy and privileged beyond anything that most of us can even dream.
H&M, Pippa, Both Andrews daughters and their stepchildren/children Zara, Peter P., Edwards kids, all of them are wealthy and connected.
The Firm/Monarchy/BRF are outdated. My guess, in less than 20 years the entire joke of a show will be museums and tourist stops only.
All the humans will still be wealthy. Not a one of them will be doing manual labor.
Hitler would be so proud!
Photoshopping is the photographic equivalent of lying. Katren is a liar.
She lied about Meghan making her cry. Now she’s lying about the Queen – who was probably suffering from mild dementia – wanting to be surrounded by White kiddos only.
Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie must have had their quality time with the Queen before she died, and I doubt the Sussexes will disclose their personal album. Why? Because they have nothing to prove.
Charles if he has attended Lily christening could have had a photo of him with harry Meghan and family.
The only way Charles would have attended Lili’s christening is if he was an alien imposter.
No way would that big p*ssy Charles dare to stand toe to toe with Tyler Perry. Tyler knows what he did.
It is a poignant photo of Her Late Majesty at Balmoral with her two youngest grandchildren and some of the great-grandchildren released on what would have been her 97th birthday.
I don’t know if it’s photoshopped, but just want to make the point that the Sussexs really tightly control images of their kids (quite rightly) and maybe the palace wouldn’t publish one with them without permission.
The Queen looks like she is in pain. This photo is supposed to be another isnt Khate wonderful, she took a photo. Perhaps the very white skin and naturally platinum blond of all the children other than the brunettes James , George, Charlotte and Louis, made it necessary for George, Charlotte and Louis to have their hair bleached. Cannot understand the desperate need to change the children from brunettes to blond, especially when most Doctors believe it is not safe before puberty. Georges ever changing fake yellow/orange blond hair color does not match his skin tone, Charlottes highlights have now become whole head, and Louis has been lightened from dark brown to blond. It is impossible for a brunette to become blond or multiple shades lighter without a lot of help from bleaching products. Brown hair totally “sun bleached ” to blonde is not posible even if they lived in the tropics. They would have to spend many hours and months in the sun and yet still achieve nothing more than the top of their heads slightly lighter with uneven streaks. Those poor children are being damaged in so many ways and the two narcissistic parents either dont see it or dont care.
It’s common for English/Irish children’s hair to lighten, even from only a few hours in the sun. I don’t think this was true for Kate and Pippa though, because their hair was always brown. Both their parents had brown hair. George, Charlotte, Louis have a fair haired father.
My hair always lightened like that in the summer when I was a kid, I thought that was a common thing for young children that have light brown / dirty blond hair to lighten a lot in the summers. And then by the time most kids with dirty blond or light brown hair get older, their hair usually darkens overall. I’m Irish if that makes a difference but I believe that it’s very common.
I need people to start photoshopping others into this photo on Twitter. Why has this not happened yet?! You could put Lilibet on the Queen’s lap and Archie on Savannah’s, with of course people in the background, partying, making rude gestures, etc! This needs to happen!
Kate the Fake strikes again. So how much money did she make from selling this picture? Given that she’s funded by the English people, why does she need to make millions of more pounds with her lackluster photography? Why can’t she donate these funds to a charity, or buy something for OTHERS when she makes appearances at charities empty-handed? This bitch.
“QEII makes a point of posing for photos with grandchildren and great grandchildren at family gathering”
There. Fixed it for you.
But only the white ones.
I happened to notice this photo and the photo with Will and Kate with a black lady came out nearly at the same time-maybe this is response about Meghan and Charles’s letters which one can deduce names the racist talking about Archie’s skin color,
I have used photoshop and it is easier to put the black people back in than it is to take the white people out.
I think we all know that Harry and Meghan very rarely show photos of their children.
I don’t have any issues with this .
I am sure they have some private ones with her from the visit they had at the Jubilee .
They would treasure those and could possibly have one displayed in their home somewhere away from prying eyes.
I doubt very much they would be at all concerned about this photo .
Wait why is there a Photoshop controversy? It looks like there is a window on the side of the room near Louis which accounts for the light on the table and his hair. What am I missing on that one?
A photographer did a great explainer video. Should come up if you do a search. There are multiple PhotoShop fails here. I’ll start with an easy one: The kids in the row behind the sofa have their hands on the sofa. Except Louis.
The official photo of Queen Elizabeth and some of her great grand children is a historical document of a fact. If it is photoshopped, then person doing it lacked judgement.