Meghan Markle's close friend Omid Scobie has said said the lack of diversity in the Palace is to blame for certain "imagery" depicted in pictures of the Cambridge's greeting fans in Jamaica.
Scobie, best known for co-authoring the biography Finding Freedom which focuses on the family life of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, blasted the Palace for not "avoiding certain imagery" in the highly-anticipated pictures of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
The images showed them laughing and joking with young Jamaicans, watching the football match from behind a fence.
Omid tweeted: "I do wonder what the hell palace organisers were thinking with some of yesterday's photo moments.
"The planning and recon that goes into every step of these engagements is next level, so how did no one think to avoid certain imagery?'
"This is why diversity on a team matters."
But royal experts quickly commented that separate photos showed England footballer Raheem Sterling, who was born on the island, posing for similar shots with the fans after appearing on the pitch with the royals yesterday.
Wider shots also showed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge smiling, laughing and shaking hands with their supporters through the fence after the match.
Royal editor and host of the Pod Save The Queen podcast Russell Myers posted: "For all the commentary from tightly cropped pictures of William and Kate saying hello and shaking hands to people standing behind a metal fence, which was actually on a football field after a game, here is Raheem Sterling in the same place doing the same thing yesterday.'
He added: "I don't know where to start with this…. Incredibly disappointing manipulation and absolute distortion of facts, supplemented by a completely perverse take which I still can't get my head around."
Omid's comments come as the Cambridge's posed for smiling selfies and were met with chants of "we love you, we love you" on their first day in Jamaica, on a tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
The royals also met the Jamaican bobsleigh team, who finished 28th in the recent Winter Olympics, on their week-long tour that will next see them in the Bahamas.
But it comes as the Cambridge's, on arrival in Jamaica were met by a much-publicised demonstration urging the monarchy to pay reparations for slavery, and there have been calls from politicians for the country to drop the Queen as head of state and become a republic.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Jamaica has given the nation the opportunity address “unresolved” issues, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has told the couple.
As he welcomed the couple before sitting down for talks, Mr Holness said: “There are issues here which are, as you would know, unresolved but your presence gives an opportunity for those issues to be placed in context, put front and centre and to be addressed in as best (a way) as we can.
“But Jamaica is, as you would see, a country that is very proud of our history, very proud of what we have achieved.
“And we’re moving on and we intend to attain in short order our development goals and fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Omid Scobie's claims.
