Meghan Markle and Prince Harry reportedly made a great effort to cultivate a "perfect image" for their recent tour of Nigeria.
"The Sussexes have shown themselves to be very concerned with controlling the narrative," royal expert Gareth Russell told an outlet. "Taking their own photographer allows them a great deal of control over what images are circulated on images they choose."
"I do think the choice of photographer was a deliberate one," he added.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to employ their friend, the photographer Misan Harriman, to snap images of them throughout the three-day visit to the African nation. Harriman's images have received both critical and popular acclaim thanks to the lensman's "powerful" and "gorgeous" choices of lighting and framing.
Meghan praised Harriman at a screening event last year for his film, The After. Her Royal Highness also shared how the photographer came to grow close to her and Harry's son, Prince Archie. "The inspiration runs deep," the Suits star stated at the ceremony. "Misan was showing him how to do photography the last time he was with us. I bought Archie a camera, and he said: 'But it’s not a Leica like Misan.' I said: 'You are not getting a Leica! Not even for Christmas.'"
The pair's need for framing and "presenting the perfect story" recently received criticism from analysts who felt the duo's "need to emulate the royals" was off-putting.
"They're looking for any welcome mat in any nation that may recognize them with the due they believe they're given," columnist Maureen Callahan told GBN's Nana Akua.
"My mother says the way she treated the Queen is a disgrace," Akua interjected. "I know a lot of Ghanaians probably feel the same way, it's a shocker."
Callahan responded: "This kind of treatment of family members, I think it cuts across cultures. It cuts across religions, creeds, and all kinds of boundaries. Everyone has an experience with a difficult parent, most people do. But to be digging their heels in this deeply and to be engaged in such bitter snipery... there are larger issues."
The journalist also spoke about Kate, Princess of Wales' cancer struggle and compared the future queen's behavior with how the Duchess of Sussex may act if the roles were reversed.
"She and William issuing the statement over the weekend about the RAF pilot who was killed, not putting herself and her struggle front and center, which I think we can all agree would be the opposite of something a Meghan Markle would do," Callahan shared.
Due to what one royal insider said was a "rival royal court forming," there are also new calls for King Charles III to strip Meghan and Harry of their royal styles.
GBN reported on Russell's remarks.