Photo agency issues correction after claiming Prince Archie christening photo was ‘digitally enhanced’

The photographer behind Prince Archie's christening has spoken out after a photo agency claimed it had been 'digitally enhanced'. Photo / Getty Images

Getty Images has issued a correction after claiming a photo taken at Prince Archie’s christening had been edited, following Kate Middleton’s admission that she had Photoshopped a Mother’s Day snap.

Photographer Chris Allerton rejected the claims that the five-year-old photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s oldest son had been “digitally enhanced” after Getty Images added a note to the image labelling it as “manipulated”.

The photo agency then removed the message and clarified the situation.

The photo, taken in July 2019, shows a two-month-old Prince Archie with his parents, his grandfather King Charles, Queen Camilla, his aunt and uncle Prince William and Kate Middleton, his grandmother Doria Ragland, and his great-aunts, Princess Diana’s sisters.

Allerton told Express UK, “I would like to state very clearly and thus clarify matters that the photograph you are referring to, taken by me at Windsor Castle on July 6, 2019, has not been manipulated and was distributed to the best of my knowledge in adherence with the submission guidelines required by Getty Images, via the Palace press office.

“It would be utterly false and indeed defamatory to suggest that I had somehow changed or materially manipulated any of the subjects or content of the image.”

Allerton went on to explain that he had “meticulously prepared” for the family portrait, testing the lighting equipment and conducting test shots before the photoshoot.

“So, when the Royal Family arrived, I could work on composition and capturing a relaxed and pleasing moment, quickly and efficiently for them.”

I’ve just spoken to Chris Allerton, Getty Images should never have put that editors note on his image, I am sure @gettyimages will make a statement about this in due course. More importantly the newspapers should have spoken to him and Getty to be 100 percent sure BEFORE…

— Misan Harriman (@misanharriman) March 20, 2024

He took the photo on his camera before “tethering it directly” to his laptop, so that “rapid review and approval could be made very soon after it was taken”, he said.

Afterwards, “the final image was delivered to the Palace press team for all relevant distribution, exclusively via that office”.

“I am sure you will understand that for such formal portraits time and speed is of the essence.

“It has always been a pleasure and privilege to be asked to photograph for the Royal Family.”

Allerton added that he had not known about the editor’s note added by Getty Images until contacted by a Daily Mail reporter.