What was claimed
A picture compilation shows Prince William making an emotional speech at a state banquet at the Élysée Palace, with Princess Catherine crying, and another image of the royal couple embracing.
Our verdict
These aren’t real pictures, and were likely created with artificial intelligence. They do not match genuine photographs from the event, and there are discrepancies with how both Royals appear in real life.
Pictures which are claimed to show the Prince of Wales delivering an emotional speech at a state banquet while Catherine, Princess of Wales, wipes away tears are not genuine.
A collage of images has been shared widely on Facebook with a long caption claiming it shows “A Moment That Brought The Élysée Palace To Absolute Silence”, saying: “That night, beneath the chandeliers of Paris, William didn’t just honor his wife—he laid his heart bare”.
In the pictures, Prince William and Catherine are wearing outfits that resemble the ones they wore at a state banquet at which they hosted French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte on 8 July.
However, this state banquet took place at Windsor Castle, not the Élysée Palace as the post claims.
Additionally, Prince William did not make a speech at the banquet, although speeches were given by King Charles III and President Macron.
A comparison of genuine photographs of the event with those being shared on social media also highlights a number of discrepancies and suggests that the images being shared online were created with artificial intelligence (AI).
Firstly, Prince William and Princess Catherine are pictured sitting next to each other. However, they were on opposite sides of the banquet table, with the prince next to the French First Lady, and Catherine next to President Macron.
We found that the pictures being shared on Facebook, although they look realistic, also contain errors in the appearance of both royals compared to genuine images of the event. There are subtle differences in the princess’s inner ear and hairline, while her tiara and earrings appear quite different.
As we have previously written, comparing face shape, specifically ears, which are extremely unique to each person, can be a good way to confirm whether a highly realistic image is actually AI.
Prince William is also depicted as clean shaven, when at the state banquet he can be seen to be sporting a short trimmed beard, and five medals, rather than the varying number seen in the viral pictures, one of which is also the wrong shape.
Before sharing images like this that you see on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source, or if they could have been altered or created with AI. Our guides to spotting AI images and knowing what to look for can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because these aren’t real photographs from the state banquet, and there is evidence they were created with artificial intelligence.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.