Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s visit to Australia appeared to take an unlikely detour to the Beachside Bakehouse, a café in the small town of San Remo – until they admitted the photo was an AI stunt
An Australian café has fooled gullible customers with a fake AI photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Beachside Bakehouse, a small independent café in San Remo, Victoria, made the most of the Sussexes ‘unofficial’ royal visit to Oz with a photo appearing to show the couple smiling as they enjoyed a coffee on the terrace.
A caption accompanying the picture on Facebook said “we always said we were fit for royalty, just didn’t think they’d actually take us up on it”, adding: “Next round’s on you Haz”.
While a few patrons appeared to be in on the joke, others were taken in by the remarkable computer-generated likeness of the pair, even congratulating staff on the royal visit.
READ MORE: Prince Harry says he didn’t want royal role as it ‘killed my mum’ before changing mindREAD MORE: Meghan Markle’s ‘blunder’ on Australia tour as latest move is branded ‘hypocritical’
One local wrote “that’s a definite WOW moment”, as someone else added: “Beautiful photo – lucky you, they chose you for a coffee.” A different patron said: “That would’ve been cool too see them – must’ve just missed them, we were there the other day – best vanilla slice ever.”
But someone else picked out a crucial detail that gave the image away, writing that the real Harry “has less hair” than his AI counterpart.
And others criticised the café for making the photo, as one unimpressed commenter wrote: “AI for sure. Don’t even look like that now. Meghan’s dress is from a previous visit to Australia“.
Beachside Bakehouse – who briefly flirted with changing their name to The Royal Bakehouse to celebrate the ‘visit’ – later came clean about the stunt.
They told the Mirror: “The image was created and shared as a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun, and we didn’t expect the level of attention it’s received. A number of people have said they had to do a double take, thinking it was real at first – which has been quite surreal for a small local bakehouse.
“It’s been amazing seeing the reaction from around the world, and it really highlights how powerful social media can be for small local businesses. At the end of the day, we’re just focused on serving our community with fresh pies, pastries and coffee every day.”
“While we can’t confirm any royal visits just yet, we can confirm the pies and coffee are worth the stop.”
“The post was intended as a bit of lighthearted fun for our community, and we’ve been blown away by the response. It’s been great exposure for a small local business like ours.”
They added that the post had attracted “over 200,000 views” in less than 24 hours, and has been shared more than 150 times.
It comes after Harry praised the Australian government’s recent move to ban under-16s from using social media – describing it as “epic”.
Wearing a blue shirt and jeans, the Duke told students at a university technical college on Thursday: “Australia took the lead. Your government was the first country in the world to bring about a ban.
“Now we can sit here and debate the pros and cons of a ban – I’m not here to judge that. All I will say is from a responsibility and leadership standpoint – epic.”
He added: “Because so many countries have now followed suit, but it should have never got to a ban.”
The Duchess of Sussex meanwhile told she students she was “bullied and attacked” every day for 10 years on social media, and claimed she was “the most trolled person in the entire world”.
At a meeting in Number 10 this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told senior figures from X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google that the risks children face on social media “can’t go on like this”, adding: “A world in which children are protected, even if that means access is restricted, that is preferable to a world where harm is the price of participation.”
On Wednesday, MPs rejected a second bid from the Lords to bring in an immediate Australia-style social media ban on under-16s.
