‘Pictures grotesque, totally unjustifiable’
A model walks the ramp during a fashion show in New York on Thursday. — AP
The publication by a French magazine of topless pictures of Prince William’s wife Catherine is “grotesque and totally unjustifiable”, St. James’s Palace said on Friday.
The couple “have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner”, the palace said in a statement.
The headline with the photo went, “Oh My God!” The magazine is published by the company owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s family.
The magazine has refrained from publishing the photographs on its website and the UK media had declined to use the photographs after being offered the pictures last week.
The angry royals had earlier evoked the Diana paparazzi controversy and compared the publication of the topless photos of Kate to the “worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales.”
“Their royal highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them.”
The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the Duke and Duchess for being so,” the Clarence House said in a statement on Friday.
The royal couple will continue their tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II despite the nude photograph crisis, Clarence House said.
The British royal family had to recently deal with the controversy caused by the publication of embarrassing nude photographs of Prince Harry while holidaying in Las Vegas. Media magnate Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid, the Sun, was the only British newspaper to publish nude photographs of Prince Harry in Las Vegas despite the request from St. James’ palace to refrain from doing so and to respect his privacy.
The French magazine has defended its decision to publish the photographs by claiming that the royal couple had been “visible from the street” while sunbathing. “These photos are not in the least shocking. They show a young woman sunbathing topless.”
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