Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s ‘Sussex Squad’ release AI-generated Christmas card of Archie and Lilibet – after Duke and Duchess were accused of ‘editing’ their real festive message

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s ‘Sussex Squad’ have been slammed for creating a ‘ridiculous’ Christmas card featuring an AI-generated image of Archie and Lilibet.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who live in Montecito, California, published their annual festive message earlier this month, which featured six photo highlights from the year.

The selection included an image of Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, running into their parents’ arms with their backs facing the camera, which led royal fans to spread baseless claims that the Duke and Duchess had ‘faked’ the photo with Photoshop.

Last week, a member of Harry and Meghan’s ‘Sussex Squad’ created a fake Christmas card showing an AI-generated portrait of the couple’s rarely-seen children.

The digital card – which appears to have been made on Canva Pro by the anonymous royal fan  – reads: ‘Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet.’

In the middle of the card is a black-and-white image of an AI-generated Archie and Lilibet, which has been created using images already in the public domain.

The fake image, which appears to have been first published two days after Christmas, shows Lilibet wearing a floral dress similar to the one the couple’s daughter donned in their official festive card.

Meanwhile, the computer-generated Archie is dressed in a cable-knit and cargo pants – which jut out at an odd angle – as he beams for the camera.

The digital card – which appears to have been made on Canva Pro by the anonymous royal fan – reads: ‘Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet’

What’s more, the royal fan also went as far as creating AI versions of the Duke and Duchess’ rescue beagles Mia and Guy.

One of the fake dogs is lying down in the bottom left corner as the other stands towers above him – with the AI failing to portray its right leg. 

Other signs the card is AI-generated include the tiles curving around Lilibet’s leg and Archie’s hair fading away round the sides. 

The image has been shared widely across X – with royal fans slamming the Sussex Squad’s ‘ridiculous’ attempt to convince users it was a genuine image of Harry and Meghan’s children. 

One wrote: ‘The kids don’t even look like brother and sister. They look exactly what they are. AI.’ Another added: ‘The dogs are hysterical.’

‘I can’t believe people think [Meghan] actually shared that,’ a third said. ‘It’s getting ridiculous at this point.’ 

A fourth said: ‘This is c**p photoshop. [Archie’s] trouser seam isn’t joined together.’ 

Meanwhile, a fifth pointed out: ‘Hidden hands and feet are very strange. AI can’t do hands and feet properly yet.’ 

Pictured: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their quasi-royal tour of Colombia in August 2024

The image has been shared widely across X – with royal fans slamming the ‘ridiculous’ attempt to convince users it was a genuine image of Harry and Meghan’s children.

‘A complete fabrication, 100% AI,’ a sixth said. ‘And to think some people will believe this is real.’ 

After the AI image went viral, other eagle-eyed royal fans noticed the card layout came directly from Canva Pro – meaning anyone with an account could have mocked it up.

It comes after social media conspiracy theorists seized on Meghan and Harry’s Christmas holiday card to spread wild conjectures about the couple including a ludicrous allegation they used AI or ‘borrowed’ children to play Archie and Lilibet.

A group of Twitter critics of the Sussexes insisted the photo was ‘digitally altered’ and made the bizarre and baseless claim that the decision to show their two children from behind is less about privacy and more about them not existing.

One conspiracy theorist said the Sussexes had decided to ‘rent a kid for the holidays’ in a pile-on that also remarked on Archie and Lilibet’s height and hair colour as they are seen so rarely in public.

But one Photoshop expert told MailOnline that the photo looked genuine. 

The Duke and Duchess’ Christmas card included a image of Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, running into their parents arms with their backs facing the camera, which led royal fans to spread baseless claims that the Duke and Duchess had ‘faked’ the photo with Photoshop 

Furthermore, a leading Fleet Street photographer said while it is ‘very staged’ to make them look like ‘the perfect family’, he does not believe it is created using AI.

It came after the Princess of Wales’ admission in March that she edited her official Mother’s Day portrait released by Kensington Palace. 

As a result there is more focus on Harry and Meghan’s pictures, especially one that showed Princess Lilibet running into Prince Harry‘s waiting arms, while Meghan, 42, held her arms open for a hug from Prince Archie.  

Some questioned the angle of Meghan’s feet and left arm length as well Archie’s legs and stride, Lilibet’s gait and even the quality of the image to allege that the charming photo is ‘fake’.

Several critics insisted that the pictures are deliberately low resolution to hide inconsistencies – rather than the fact they are small and printed on a card.

The season’s greetings from Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation showcased the highlights of the Sussexes’ year, including pictures from their four-day visit to Colombia in August

British Photoshop expert James Middleton, who is no relation to Kate Middleton, said that the size of the image on the card makes it near-impossible to know if it has been edited.

He told MailOnline: ‘It is going to be very hard to work out the authenticity’, adding that because it is one of six images on a small card it is ‘far too small’ to analyse in the way Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day image could be.

He added: ‘Meghan looks a little painted. It could be just a trick of the light, being so mottled and her white jumper’.

But dismissing one key conspiracy he said: ‘I think that the position of her feet seem okay and where they should be’.

Photographer Glenn Gratton, who runs the leading W8 Media picture agency, said: ‘It is very staged and a moment that is managed to make them look like the perfect family.

‘Meghan is hugging the boy. Harry is hugging the girl. They have three dogs with them and they’re all together on the perfect drive on a sunny California day. It’s all too perfect.

‘It is an image for the Instagram world we now live in. It is not AI but I’ve no doubt it has been retouched like many other people retouch their own Christmas cards before they send it’.