Image of France's Macron kneeling before Thai king during state visit is AI-generated
- Published on July 3, 2026 at 09:59
- 3 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
Thai social media users shared an AI-generated image falsely depicting French President Emmanuel Macron kneeling while presenting France's highest decoration to King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida during the Thai royals' state visit to France. Photographs published by Thailand's foreign ministry show the honour displayed on a table in front of the leaders during the ceremony, contradicting the fabricated image, which contains multiple visual inconsistencies.
"France's highest honour. Macron kneels to present an award to the King and Queen at the Elysee Palace," reads a Thai-language Facebook post on July 1, 2026.
It goes on to say: "Paris goes all out! Macron presents the Legion of Honour at its highest grade, the Grand-Croix, to the king, and the highest grade of another order to the Queen, at a state dinner at the presidential palace."
The post shares a graphic showing several images of President Macron, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Queen Suthida, First Lady Brigitte Macron and Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, including one image appearing to show Macron kneeling to present a medal to the Thai king.
The post has garnered more than 40,000 likes and more than 2,100 shares.
It surfaced after Thailand's king and queen arrived in Paris for an official state visit on June 29 -- the first visit by a Thai monarch to France since 1960 -- marking the 170th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries (archived link).
Thailand's king and queen -- accompanied by Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana -- were welcomed by President Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron at the Hotel des Invalides before proceeding to the Elysee Palace, where the two leaders held formal talks and viewed historical documents highlighting bilateral ties.
During a state dinner at the presidential palace, Macron presented the 73-year-old king with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour -- France's highest award -- and Queen Suthida with the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, according to Thai media (archived here and here).
The circulating graphic was also shared widely in other posts on Facebook, X and TikTok, but the part showing Macron kneeling before the Thai king is AI-generated.
AI-generated image
This circulating image contains multiple visual errors.
The queen was photographed wearing a traditional Thai dress featuring a distinctive long cape trailing behind her -- a detail absent in the fabricated image.
An official from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP on July 2 that the image does not reflect reality.
"The News Division would like to confirm that this is an AI-generated image and would like to confirm ... that there is no evidence of any image showing Emmanuel Macron kneeling to present a royal decoration."
AFP also reviewed official photographs published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its website showing the leaders at the decoration ceremony and state dinner, and found no images depicting Macron kneeling before the Thai king (archived link).
AFP ran the picture through OpenAI's image verification tool, which determined that it was "generated with OpenAI tools."
AFP has previously debunked other AI-generated images of Thai and foreign political figures.
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