Overview
- Grant Harrold posted a picture on social media that he described as a 2004 image of Prince William and Catherine and the post was widely shared and questioned by online users.
- Journalist Katie Nicholl reshared the image and commented approvingly, which helped amplify scrutiny after social-media commenters and outlets said parts of the picture looked AI-generated.
- Harrold issued a public clarification saying he neither took nor owned the image and that he had mistakenly believed it to be authentic and will be more cautious in future.
- Kensington Palace declined to comment when contacted and reports that the palace took specific protective action have not been corroborated by independent sources.
- The episode underscores two wider issues: the growing difficulty of verifying realistic AI imagery and the reputational risk when former insiders’ posts are treated as authoritative by journalists and the public.