Meghan Markle has been accused of “intentionally” copying Prince William and Princess Catherine with the photograph and videos she shared to mark her 45th birthday this year. On Tuesday, the Duchess of Sussex posted a black-and-white photograph on Instagram of herself jumping into a pool holding birthday balloons. She also uploaded videos of her dancing in the kitchen and putting party hats on her dogs.

While William and Catherine have never posted a photograph in their swimwear like this, or videos of them dancing, a former royal butler believes Meghan is copying their style. This is because William and Catherine have marked their children’s birthdays this year by sharing videos of them behind-closed-doors on a family holiday, playing cricket and spending time on the beach. Former royal butler Grant Harrold, therefore, believes that Meghan could be copying the couple’s approach by sharing the photograph and video that she did.

Speaking to OLBG, Harrold – who worked for King Charles when he was The Prince of Wales between 2004 and 2011 – said: “This video of Meghan reminded me of how William and Kate have posted fun videos of themselves on holiday to mark special occasions and say thank you to the public.

“But on this occasion, I don’t think they needed to say ‘thank you for the birthday messages’, I think they could have said something different, this is still them acting like senior members of the Royal Family, which is interesting, particularly after their recent visit.

“When I first saw it, I thought it was them almost trying to one-up William and Kate or copy how they have done things and how they approach social media, it’s very close to the bone to how they do things.

“However, they are well within their rights to put up a birthday message, but this does seem intentional in my opinion. I think there are other ways they could do a post like this. It is what siblings always do, they try to copy and one-up each other, but usually they grow out of it.”

He continued: “Looking at the ‘behind the scenes’ video of Meghan with the balloons, it’s like she is trying to act like it’s candid and she isn’t aware the camera is there, but it’s quite obvious she is being filmed, but this is their way of trying to appear normal.”

It is not known how Meghan celebrated her 45th birthday, however, it is believed she would have spent the day with her husband Prince Harry – who could be heard talking in the videos Meghan shared on her Instagram story this week – and their children.

It is also likely that the duchess would have seen her mother, Doria Ragland, who lives near the family’s Montecito mansion.

It is not known what presents Meghan received for her birthday, or whether she received anything from any of Harry’s royal relatives.