A former royal butler has issued an apology after sharing an AI-generated photo of the Prince and Princess of Wales to his 519k Instagram followers over the weekend.
Grant Harrold, who used to work as King Charles’ butler between 2004 to 2011 at Highgrove, shared a photo of what looked like the royal couple when they were university students.
In the photo the royal couple were dressed in casual clothes, and Princess Kate was sitting on William’s lap with her arms wrapped around him.
“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,” he initially captioned the photo.
During his time as a royal butler, Harrold had witnessed the beginning of William and Kate’s relationship, including when they reunited after their brief split in 2008.
His followers were quick to point out that the image appeared to be AI.
Early this week, Harrold admitted to being duped by the photo in a statement shared to his Instagram story.
“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.
“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 is still up on his profile at the time of writing.
The use of AI-generated images has grown on social media, with users reminded to be careful of what content they post or share.
Images: Instagram
