Middleton family files complaint over photos

The Royal Family sells newspapers, as evidenced by the wedding of William and Kate last week. How much tolerance the Middletons have for the press is being tested.

The Middleton family has had enough.

After a week of seeing some private and sometimes unflattering photographs splashed across the web and newspapers, the newest members to the Royal Family circle have officially complained to the Press Complaints Commission.

The move comes after four newspapers published pictures on the weekend of the Middleton family and Prince William as they swam and sunbathed on a yacht in the Mediterranean in 2006. One photo in News of the World showed Kate Middleton’s sister, Pippa, removing her bikini top under the headline "Oh buoy it's Pippa.” The pictures have been removed from the paper’s website.

"I can confirm that the PCC has now received complaints from representatives of the Middleton family concerning photographs published in the News of the World, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Daily Mirror,” a PCC spokesperson told the BBC. “We will now consider those complaints."

The source of the pictures was Big Pictures Agency in London.

This isn’t the first time the Middletons have gone to the commission. In April, before Kate married Prince William, the family talked to the PCC about “harassment” from photographers, though they did launch any formal action. In that instance, the PCC reminded publications of their obligations to uphold the Editors’ Code of Practice regarding an individual’s “expectation of privacy.

Earlier last week, there were photographs published on some websites of James Middleton partying in various states of undress, as well as pictures of Pippa dancing in a bra with a man in his boxer shorts.

Insiders said the family felt there was a “betrayal” with these photos, since they apparently came from people who knew the Middletons.

This complaint, coming so soon after the royal wedding of William and Kate, is a clear indication that the Middletons are drawing a line in the sand with what they perceive as voyeur journalism by some British papers. It is also a test of the PCC and its ability to mediate the long-standing disputes between the Royal Family and the media without parties resorting to the courts.

 

Comments

[Michel]

I generally think that photographers like this should be hanged from their lenses, but in this case, with people partying half-naked, I say: let the photographers show these people to be what they are...and let the Middletons grow up a bit and act like responsible adults if they want to be taken seriously.

[Susan]

They better get used to the intrusion ... this is the just the beginning.

[welder]

Unfortunately our hunger is only satisfied by information about them, this is how I found you LOL.