Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Sending A Message To Royal Family By Releasing New Photos: Royal Expert

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to release their new pictures after the unveiling of the new fab four's photo was a "bold move," according to a royal expert.

Buckingham Palace released on Saturday a picture of the new fab four — King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Photographer Misan Harriman dropped two new photos of Prince Harry and Markle from One Young World Live Monday. Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair's royal editor and author of the new book "The New Royals," weighed in on the issue and said the Sussexes made a "bold move" to send a message to the royals.

"It's all in the timing, isn't it? It does sort of have a sense of 'anything you can do we can do too,'" Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight. "It was quite polarizing, because you had, just two days before, that incredible image of the king and the Queen consort, and the new Prince and Princess of Wales."

"It said, 'This is the future of the monarchy.' Of course, so notable by their absence, [were] Harry and Meghan. So it didn't surprise me to see an image of them so soon after," the royal expert continued. "But it was a pretty bold move, as sort of a reminder that actually there is this alternative royal court across the pond."

The "Harry: Life, Loss, and Love" author pointed out that Prince Harry and Markle's pictures were taken several weeks ago before the Queen passed away when they were in Manchester. So the timing was notable because "if that was just a picture they were going to release, they'd have released it then."

"This is clearly the Sussexes just making a point," she added. "We're visible, we're bold, and we're not going anywhere... we're doing 'royal' a different way."

British journalist and royal author Angela Levin also commented on the Sussexes' move. The "Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: From Outcast to Future Queen Consort" author felt that Prince Harry and Markle were competing with the royal family after they were seemingly taken out of the picture because they stepped back from their royal duties.

"I just [think, they] did [sharing the photo] in competition with the main royal family," Levin told GB News anchor Dan Wootton. "They just want to squash it down in any way they can, and it seems they can't bear it if they've got publicity and they have to do better or they don't do better. [But] they couldn't do better. It was an amazing picture and there is a whole new life now that's going to happen."

Levin and Nicholl were not the only ones who noticed the timing. Several netizens mocked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after seeing their new photos, just two days after the release of the new fab four's portrait.

"The timing of this 'new' photo is hysterically transparent. The Sussex PR is in overdrive in their relentless thirst for relevancy," one commented. Another added, "And that's the photograph taken by their buddy? We can see that they're really trying hard after King Charles released his portrait on Saturday."