Royal fans claim Prince Harry’s bald spot was Photoshopped on Time cover: ‘Where did all that hair come from?’

Royal fans are questioning whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Time magazine cover was edited due to the full appearance of the Duke of Sussex’s hair.

This week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were named two of the world’s 100 most influential people by the magazine, which featured the royal couple on one of its newest covers.

While the cover received plenty of praise, there were also those who wondered about possible Photoshopping, as the photos taken by Pari Dukovic appear to show the duke with a full head of hair.

The images contrasted with photos taken of Prince Harry on a number of recent outings, in which his hair appears noticeably thinner towards the crown of his head.

“It’s the glow for me… This is what peace and happiness does,” one person tweeted in response to the couple’s Time cover, prompting another person to reply: “Didn’t realise peace and happiness re-grew hair” alongside a photo of the back of the 37-year-old royal’s head.

Another person commented on Instagram: “How nice they gabe Haz lots of new hair. Maybe he is a hair growth influencer.”

“He has grown a lot of hair as he gets older… I think he has that Benjamin Button thing,” someone else joked, referencing the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which depicts the life of a man ageing in reverse.

The portraits even prompted royal expert Angela Levin, who wrote Harry: A Biography of a Prince, to weigh in, with the biographer tellingThe Sun that the magazine had “done something about his hair because he’s got much more hair in the photograph”.

The photos of the couple, taken at their home in California, see the pair captured in multiple powerful poses, with the cover photo showing Meghan, wearing a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and tailored white trousers, facing the camera head on, while Harry, dressed in a black shirt and beaded bracelets, is positioned behind her with one hand resting on her shoulder.

In another photo, the couple, wearing matching shades of olive green, can be seen framed by a doorway, while an additional portrait sees them strolling hand-in-hand along a tree-lined path.

In addition to comments about the unexplained state of Prince Harry’s fuller hair, the portraits also prompted amused reactions in response to the couple’s stances, with one person jokingly tweeting: “This looks like Harry is her hairdresser and he’s looking into the mirror explaining what he did to her layers.”

The release of the Time cover was accompanied with a quote from celebrity chef José Andrés, who praised the royal couple’s “compassion”.

“In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle,” the founder of World Central Kitchen wrote, while the couple themselves said they were “humbled” by the inclusion on this year’s list of influential people.