Media all over the world are waking this morning to the realisation that Prince Harry was never photographed nude. That the picture of him that has appeared in newspapers across the globe, and on just about every media internet outlet from Bangkok to Washington, was of Andreas San Antonio, a male body double, onto which Harry's head had been stitched.
Palace officials are grateful of this news, as they could all too easily believe that Harry would appear naked in a hotel room, especially coming out of a shower. Only the Queen never emerges from bathing naked.
"The Queen often remarks of Philip after he has bathed," said Ian Cider, a palace insider, "that now he's been washed, when he's dry, he needs a good iron."
The insider went on to say that they are glad that this bogus photo has been unmasked, and that it might cause the world's media to pause next time.
"But I doubt it," said Cider. "They love this stuff."
The Photoshop Prank that Phooled the World, was created on a laptop in John F Kennedy airport while some of Harry's squaddie mates were waiting for their delayed flight back to England. With all of them denying responsibility, despite the address of the originating computer being tracked back to them, it will be difficult to prosecute.
The scam only came to light when the male model, whose body was lifted from the internet, came forward to claim that the body in the picture was his and not Prince Harry's.
"I provided photographic evidence," said Andreas San Antonio of Michigan. "I showed them the original photograph of me, that I absolutely had not Photoshopped, and there was no doubt that every muscle was the same, and the pose was identical. Does the word Photoshopped have a double P in it?"
The news has rocketed San Antonio into the world spot light, and the offers of work have been flooding in.
"I wish I'd thought of that," said Jeff Unicycle, a bitter male model from Brighton, who hasn't worked since he got a beer gut and lost his hair. "I'm pretty good with Photoshop."
