Commentary: William takes zero-tolerance stance over Prince George photographs

Legal action: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their son

3 October 2014

Every child, royal or otherwise, deserves the right to play without the threat of intimidation, harassment of persistent pursuit.

Just because Prince George will one day be king does not mean he should not be able to play freely in the park with other children or go on an outing without his parents having to worry that he is being followed by paparazzi.

Prince William has understandably adopted a zero-tolerance stance regarding what he sees as gross intrusion regarding his baby son and despatched legal letters. The tragic death of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car crash while being pursued by foreign paparazzi has understandably strengthened his resolve to protect his family from being followed by freelance photographers.

He has every right to do so.

So far no photographs of Prince George taken in this way have been published in UK newspapers and magazines. Some have, however, apparently appeared in magazines abroad.

But Prince William’s decision to take legal action against two paparazzo – issuing a final warning - has nothing to do with the photographs themselves.

It is simply that William believes his son and royal nanny have been unable to follow a normal routine without being persistently pursued by photographers. That is of course always a matter of interpretation, and ultimately – if it goes that far – a matter for a court.

What is true, however, is that Prince George will one day be a public figure – like his great-grandmother The Queen, grandfather Prince Charles and his mother and father. He will be supported too by the taxpayer in his official duties too. But that is a long way off.

William and Kate are understandably protective parents. So far they have only sanctioned a small number of official photo opportunities for the UK media. In this country only Kate’s amateur snapper Michael Middleton (Kate’s dad) and the news agency the Press Association have been allowed to take these pictures. The Press Association issued a charming set of photographs of George’s christening and on another occasion for his first birthday.

He was pictured, too, on an outing at a polo match with his mother too, which some accredited freelances photographers took without any comeback from the palace.

The only other photographs that were taken of Prince George happened on the royal tour of News Zealand and Australia. Prince George has grown up a lot since then, apparently.

Perhaps, given the role Prince George will one day play, more set piece photo opportunities could be arranged in the future. That would probably reduce the marketing opportunities for paparazzi photographs in an instant.

Commentary: William takes zero-tolerance stance over Prince George photographs

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