Royal fans are divided over two new photos of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex which were taken just days before the Queen died in September.
The shots were shared by photographer Misan Harriman, who captured them when the pair attended the opening ceremony of the One Young World Summit in Manchester on September 5.
Posing with Harry at her back in the first snap, Meghan gazed boldly into the camera in an all-red ensemble while Harry smiled over her shoulder.
The couple were also holding hands in the photo, Meghan looping a single finger through Harry’s at her side.
They intertwined their fingers fully in the second picture, a black-and-white portrait that appears to have been taken just before the pair walked into the event.
Sharing the photos to Instagram on Tuesday, Harriman captioned them: “The Duke & Duchess of Sussex moments before attending the opening ceremony of @OneYoungWorld last month.”
Royal fans flooded the comments with praise for the photographer, lauding him for capturing Harry and Meghan’s “strength” and “devotion” in the rare images.
“What a stunning picture, you bring out something in them for sure. It is a level of comfort, trust and respect. Well done sir!” one wrote.
But critics questioned the timing of the portraits’ release, suggesting it was in “bad taste” and noting that the photos looked more “like a Vogue cover” than anything else.
“Releasing it weeks later for no reason, not even a statement to restate the work of one young world is weird,” one Twitter user wrote, another saying “their new PR is a little embarrassing”.
WATCH: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the Queen’s funeral
A third said the pictures were “very posed, and not in a casual ‘I love you’ way but like a Vogue cover”.
The colour photo bears a strong resemblance to Harry and Meghan’s TIME Magazine cover, which debuted just over a year ago in September 2021.
Harry posed behind Meghan for the cover portrait, as he did in the new photo, and took a supporting position at her side in another photo from their TIME spread.
Those pictures were captured by Pari Dukovic and marked one of the couple’s first significant breaks away from more traditional royal photography.
One of the new pictures bears a strong resemblance to Harry and Meghan’s TIME Magazine cover.
(Image: TIME/Pari Dukovic)Since then the couple have worked almost exclusively with photographers outside of the royal rota, even choosing Harriman to photograph some of their milestone moments.
He photographed the couple with their son Archie when Meghan announced her pregnancy with daughter Lilibet to the world.
He also shared the second photograph of the youngster ever seen by the public following her first birthday in June this year.
