A suspected AI-generated photo of the Prince and Princess of Wales, supposedly taken when they were university students, has fooled a former employee of the royal household.
Grant Harrold, who used to work as a butler to King Charles between 2004 and 2011 at Highgrove, said he “genuinely mistook” the photo to be real.
It was shared to his 519k followers on Instagram on Saturday and appears to show Prince William and Catherine in 2004, when they were dating.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have found themselves the subject of fake AI-generated images. (Getty)
Both are wearing blue jeans and white shirts and Catherine is sitting on William’s lap with her arms wrapped around him.
Harrold initially captioned the photo as: “This wonderful photo of the Prince and Princess of Wales was taken when I first met them back in 2004. A true royal love story.”
During his time working for the now-king, Harrold met Prince William and Catherine many times and was there to witness the beginning of their romance. He was also working when the pair had a romantic reunion dinner on Valentine’s Day at Highgrove in 2008, nearly a year after their brief split.
But his followers quickly pointed out the image appeared to be AI.
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Grant Harrold, former royal butler, shared this image of Prince William and Catherine to his Instagram page but the photo is believed to be an AI-generated fake, May 2026. (Instagram/the_royal_butler)
Taking to his stories earlier this week, Harrold backtracked on the photo and admitted to being duped by it.
“It has come to my attention that the authenticity of a recent image I shared has been questioned to be AI,” Harrold wrote.
“I love sharing my experiences and memories of working with the royal family, and I strive for my content to be a reflection of the great years I spent as part of the household.
“I did not take or own the image of William and Kate that I posted. I always try to do my due diligence before sharing any posts – to me, I only saw in this image a young William and Kate that reminded me so much of how they were when I first had the pleasure of working for them.
Prince William and Catherine pictured on their graduation day from St Andrew’s University in Scotland in 2005. (Clarence House)
“I genuinely mistook this to be an authentic image of the pair. On seeing it, it made me smile, and I wanted to share this joy with you.
“While I may be adept at telling my dinner knife from my butter knife, AI, as I’m sure you can all agree, can be harder to detect.
“Moving forward, I will be more cautious of the content I choose to share with my followers and will endeavour to ensure my platform remains an authentic and positive space that celebrates the royal family.”
The photo remains on Harrold’s Instagram grid and has not been removed.
The use of AI-generated images is rampant on social media, with users urged to be careful about the content they post or share.
The issue was the focus of a recent episode of Royal Briefing, nine.com.au’s royal vodcast, ahead of Prince George’s move to high school in September.
“All of this AI content, these royals are going have to live through a world where you don’t know what’s real and fake,” nine.com.au entertainment editor Nicole Douglas said.
“You don’t know who to believe, who to trust.”
Royal reporter Natalie Oliveri pointed to a recent example of AI-generated images of Princess Elisabeth of Belgium and another young royal, sparking rumours of a romance that was swiftly shut down by the palace.
“She actually had to come out to deny she was in a relationship with this person from a different royal family because there were these AI generated photos of them all over social media.”
Watch the full episode here