Twitter Slams Prince Charles For Allegedly Cropping Out Meghan Markle From Archie Birthday Photo

Prince Charles has been accused of snubbing his daughter-in-law Meghan Markle in his birthday message for grandson Archie Harrison.

The Prince of Wales joined other members of the royal family in posting social media tributes for Archie when Prince Harry and Markle's son turned 2 years old on Thursday. But while the photos accompanying Prince William and Kate Middleton's and Queen Elizabeth II's greetings featured the Duchess of Sussex, she was noticeably absent in the picture Prince Charles shared on Twitter and Instagram.

The black-and-white picture taken during Archie's 2019 christening showed Prince Charles gazing at his then-newborn grandson in Prince Harry's arms.

Markle's absence immediately caught the attention of social media users, with some accusing Prince Charles of cropping the duchess out of the image.

"Rude!! He has a mother," one commented on the post.

"Sad! Very sad state of affairs when the supposed future king cuts the mother of his grandchild out of the photo with which he chooses to share. Yes, they haven’t seen Archie for over 12mnths, but to not include Meghan... it’ll only add fuel to the fire of the tabloids," another person wrote.

"Why would you not call him your grandson and why cut his mother off. You have made a lot of mistakes yourself or have you forgotten that. This is not helping at all," a third user added.

"Lovely photo, but what about Megan Archie's mother. If anything she should be in this as well," a fourth netizen wrote.

But others defended the Prince of Wales, saying it was not unusual for the senior royal to want to post a three-generation photo of him, his son and grandson. Some also said that it was Archie's birthday and not Markle's so her presence in the post was not required.

"It's quite normal to have a photograph with the 3 bloodline generations. Quite a few families do this," one commented.

"Why would she be in the picture, it's not her birthday. It's a picture of a dad with his son and his sons son," a second user wrote.

"This is a nice 'generational' picture. Grandad. Dad. Son. Happy birthday Archie!!" a different netizen added.

"So how did he snub Meghan? Reporters you have a habit of focussing on negative elements. Is that what Prince Charles told you or it is your assumption? Please get a life!" another netizen wrote.

This comes over a week after Us Weekly reported, citing unnamed sources, that Prince Harry has yet to mend his relationship with his father since returning to the U.K. for Prince Philip's funeral last month.

"Unfortunately, Harry and Charles didn’t resolve their differences when Harry returned to the U.K. They barely communicated," the insider told the outlet. "There definitely continues to be a huge wedge between the two."

Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Charles at the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service on March 11, 2019 in London. Photo: Getty Images/Richard Pohle