Meghan Markle ‘Photogate’: Kim and Khloé Kardashian finally address photo drama on podcast

Months after fans noticed that photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quietly disappeared from Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner’s Instagram feeds, the reality star has now addressed what actually happened. Speaking on her sister Khloé Kardashian’s podcast, Kim said the removal wasn’t drama-driven, but tied to timing and sensitivity around a public holiday.The images were taken during Kris Jenner’s milestone birthday celebration last November and were briefly posted before being taken down, sparking speculation online at the time.Kim Kardashian explained the situation on the podcast Khloé In Wonder Land, saying the decision to remove the photos was not due to any fallout with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.“It was really innocent, which is so crazy,” the Skims co-founder said.She added that Jenner and Markle share a long-standing friendship. “Mom and Meghan have been friends for some years now, and they have a really sweet relationship,” Kim said.According to Kim, she and Jenner reviewed photos from Jenner’s star-studded 70th birthday party and checked what could be shared publicly. “We were told that it was totally cool to post. And then after it was posted, I think they realized it was Remembrance Day, and they didn’t want to be seen at a party, even though it’s already up, you know, and then taken down,” Kim recalled.“And then I think they realized, like, ‘Oh, this was so silly,’” she added.Kim suggested that appearing at the Baby2Baby Gala earlier that evening may have been viewed differently than party footage later at night. “Maybe not partying and dancing on the dance floor or whatever,” she said.“So we took them down to respect Remembrance Day,” she told Khloé, referring to the holiday honoring armed forces members who died in the line of duty. Kim said the online reaction escalated more than expected and turned into a bigger controversy than intended. Reflecting on the moment, she said humor might have helped defuse the situation.“You got to laugh at, like, the situation sometimes and just, like, lighten it up and be if everyone’s taking it the wrong way, like, lean in,” she said.She even joked about staging a mock campaign-style post-and-delete moment. “I was like, ‘We should do a full Skims campaign.’ Take the photo, even just us, like, I’ll shoot you at mom, you know, post it and then delete it, like, 30 minutes later. And then say, ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t have permission to post those photos for the campaign,’” she said.Kim added that the situation might have landed differently if handled more playfully from the start. “The drama would have been ‘received differently’ if they ‘made it light and made it funny.’”“But I hated how that was received for everyone,” she shared. “That sucks. It was just made into something that was so crazy and ridiculous that just didn’t have to be.”As previously reported by Page Six, Harry, 41, and Markle, 44, attended Jenner’s 70th birthday party on November 8, 2025, held at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Beverly Hills mansion. After the event, Kardashian and Jenner posted photo carousels that included an image with the Sussexes, before later deleting it, prompting widespread online speculation.