Prince William, Kate's Christmas Card Mocked in Viral Posts

Prince William and Kate Middleton released a family Christmas card that one social media commentator said looked like it had been "taken at a photo studio in a shopping mall."

The Prince and Princess of Wales posted a photo with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis against a dappled grey background.

George, 10, looked dapper in a Polo Ralph Lauren shirt and black trousers while Princess Charlotte dressed casual in jeans and plimsolls.

However, not everyone reacted to the photo with the festive cheers the Wales family and Kensington Palace intended.

Mike Sington, formerly of NBCUniversal, told his 120,000 followers: "Official Christmas Card of the Prince and Princess of Wales, taken at a photo studio in a shopping mall."

The post went viral after it was liked 2,000 times and viewed more than 170,000 times on X, formerly Twitter.

Others pored over the image asking whether it had been photoshopped after Prince William's left leg was not visible, though it is entirely possible it was simply behind Princess Charlotte.

One X user wrote: "Where is Willy's bottom half? Consider the angle of his supposed right leg, his left leg should be visible in the chair opening unless he's trying to do a split?"

Another wrote: "Did they photoshop him into the pic?"

Meanwhile The Guardian columnist Zoe Williams suggested the Wales family "cosplay casual California cool."

She wrote: "On the Prince and Princess of Wales's Christmas card, the family is shot in black and white against a mottled grey background of a material that looks almost furry, like the belly of a mole.

"They are dressed casually, each in an open-necked white shirt with jeans. And it can't help but seem like a nod to the kind of card Harry and Meghan would send—indeed, they did matching denim two years ago, though both the setting and the body language were much more relaxed.

"In the Wales family picture, released on Sunday, William is smiling like you owe him money. Kate looks quite showbiz and sassy, like she might have a shot at her own show, if she could just sort out a more believable ensemble.

"George, self-possessed, does not smile while Louis has unwilling participant at the orthodontist energy. Charlotte, however, has smile enough for the whole lot of them."

Meanwhile, the write-up in U.K. broadsheet The Times read: "In jeans, the Princess of Wales shows that Meghan is not the only one who can nail Californian cool but she has a new rival in the fashion stakes: Princess Charlotte."

Karen Dacre, its fashion director, wrote: "The photograph is dominated by Charlotte, who sits on a stool, front and centre, wearing skinny black jeans, a smock-style shirt, plimsolls and a blow-dry that outshines her mother's—serving as a reminder that in the young royal we have a style icon in the making.

"And a girl who looks like she could have been an ace Queen if she had been born first."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.