A royal portrait that's really fit for a Queen

Queen Elizabeth stands on the spot where she had her coronation on June 2, 1953 in this Diamond Jubilee portrait. (© Ralph Heimans. Photo: Max Communications/Colin White)

Capturing Queen Elizabeth on canvas has always been a hit-and-miss proposition for artists.

She has sat for about 140-plus artists during her lifetime, each one looking to capture both the woman and the majesty. Most miss the mark in one way or another.

The latest entry, by 42-year-old Australian-born Ralph Heimans, scores high marks on almost every count.

The only official portrait of the monarch in her Diamond Jubilee year is an almost life-size 9x11-feet, capturing the Queen in a contemplative pose on the very spot where she was crowned in the Sacrarium at Westminster Abbey.

Heimans, who also did a portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in 2006, spent six months working on this canvas. The Queen sat for him in March in the Yellow Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. He then used detailed photos the Abbey to create the majestic background to the work.

"She’s a beautiful subject to paint, she has a great face," said Heimans.

“Because she’s an old lady and has beautiful kind eyes, instantly when she approached I was at ease.... She’s amazingly vulnerable. I wanted to be very honest.”

The portrait was unveiled this week at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia. It will be on display there until March, when it heads to London.

“Through the narrative of the portrait I wanted to produce a work of particular significance for the Diamond Jubilee," said Heimans. “By representing the Queen as she reflects on this incredible milestone in her life, I wanted to explore the dynamic between her public role and the personal, emotional dimension."

Did it work?

Well, the Queen never comments on her portraits publicly. Some reports, though, say the Palace is more than pleased. And judging by some of the comments on media sites in the UK, most are giving the portrait the thumbs up.

"What she's got here is a minutely painted, hyper-realist portrait of excellent technique, which places her on an historic spot of deep personal meaning," wrote Daily Mail art critic Godfrey Baker. "Some may say she looks downcast but I see reflection combined with optimism."

So, what do you think?

 

 

A detailed look at the Queen's face in the Diamond Jubilee portrait. (© Ralph Heimans. Photo: Max Communications/Colin White)

A detailed look at the Westminster Abbey floor in the Diamond Jubilee portrait. (© Ralph Heimans. Photo: Max Communications/Colin White)

 

 

 

Naked Harry photos: Palace won't pursue complaint

Prince Harry pumps his fist after Britain's Chris Hoy wins the gold medal for the men's keirin at the Velodrome during the London Olympic Games on Aug. 7. A few weeks later, the prince was embroiled in controversy over naked photos taken in Las Vegas. (Reuters)

Prince Harry's only sin in Sin City, apparently, was getting caught.

That's the conclusion reached by Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the British Army and someone quite familiar with some of the over-the-top antics of military officers. His comments come on the heels of the Palace announcing their own conclusion to the 'naked Harry' episode in Las Vegas: They will not be making a complaint against London newspaper for publishing the offending photos.

Harry's naked Las Vegas romp in a game of strip billiards last month caused a sensation and plenty of controversy in the UK, and only calmed down when the prince took up his duties as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan and his sister-in-law Kate took over top spot in the headlines after taking off her top at a French chateau.

Jackson, speaking after a dinner in Cambridge this week, gave Prince Harry a wide berth when judging the actions of the 28-year-old army captain in Vegas, which turned into one wild blowout before being shipped to the war zone. The mistake was letting some of the party get caught on camera.

"All young officers are probably saying 'there but for the grace of God go I' and even some older officers are remembering perhaps the odd moment in their youth when they were being not as wise perhaps as they might have been," said Jackson, 68, who was appointed Chief of General Staff in 2003.

"No. I have no difficulty with it. One does remember the 11th commandment: Thou shalt not get caught."

While photos of naked Harry circulated widely on the web immediately after popped up on TMZ, the British press keep a hands-off policy as the Palace warned that it was an invasion of privacy. That turned into a freedom-of-the-press debate, in turn leading to the Sun tabloid in London thumbing their nose at the warnings and printing the photos.

The paper's action drew plenty of criticism, but the Palace has now decided it will not be making a making a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.

''Having considered the matter now for a number of weeks, we have decided not to pursue a complaint with the PCC on behalf of Prince Harry in respect of the photos of the Prince taken in Las Vegas," said a St. James's Palace spokesman.

''We remain of the opinion that a hotel room is a private space where its occupants would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

''Prince Harry is currently focused entirely on his deployment in Afghanistan, so to pursue a complaint relating to his private life would not be appropriate at this time and would prove to be a distraction"

The Sun claimed that it was "a clear public interest" to publish the photos " in order for the debate around them to be fully informed."

William and Harry's longtime and beloved nanny dies

A treasured influence in the lives of Princes William and Harry is no more.

Olga Powell was their nanny for 15 years, caring for them as they grew from toddlers to young men, through family turmoil, divorce, and their mother's death -- and always in the media's glare.

Powell died Tuesday after collapsing outside her home in Broxbourne, a town outside London. She was 82.

“The two princes have been informed and they are both very saddened by the news, as you can imagine," a spokesman for William and Harry told the Hertfordshire Mercury.

Powell had been part of the royals' life since William was six months old and living in Kensington Palace. She was the constant presence in Will and Harry's life as the family went through some hectic and trying times, eventually leading to Princess Diana and Prince Charles separation in 1992, when William was just 10. (photo: the boys with Princess Diana in 1991)

After her retirement, Powell  continued to stay in touch with the boys, whom she described as "just like any other children."

Powell was a guest at William's graduation from Sandhurst military college in 2006 and also at his wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011.

“I have a very normal relationship with them," she said in an interview before the wedding. "Their upbringing was very normal and their parents wanted them to have as ordinary a childhood as they could."

Harry and William, she said, were "like my grandsons."

The Mirror reported that just last week Powell wrote to Harry, worrying about his safety in Afghanistan, where he is serving as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner.

After retiring, Powell was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal.

Kate's wardrobe switch causes stir in Solomon Islands

Prince William and wife Kate pose for a photo with His Excellency the Governor General of the Solomon Islands, Sir Frank Kabui, in Honiara on Sept. 16. (AP Photo)

Forget about Topless Kate. It's the Solomon Switch that is making some people blush these days.

While not quite on the same scale at the scandal at the French chateau, some hasty apologies have been uttered in the wake of news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were victims of a clumsy wardrobe malfunction while on their tour of the Solomon Islands.

It all started Sept. 16 when the couple went to their rooms to change for a banquet hosted by the Islands' governor-general, Sir Frank Kabui, celebrating the island culture. The plan was for William to wear a traditional Solomon Island shirt, a diplomatic gesture to honour the hosts, and Kate would wear a summer dress.

What they found laid out for them was a bright pink and red dress for Kate and a blue shirt for William. These were not what was described in the very precise itinerary that was put together between Island officials and Clarence House. Still, when in Rome ....

So off Will and Kate went to the banquet,decked out in the colourful garb. What they did not know was that the clothes they wore were not from the Solomon Islands, but rather from the Cook Islands, which are located about 4,500 kilometres east of where they were eating dinner.

It turns out that one of the members of the island welcoming committee, Kethie Sunders, had gotten into the royals' room before they arrived and dropped off some additional gifts, including the shirt and dress from the Cook Islands designer Ellena Tavioni.

After the event -- and probably some puzzled looks from organizers -- the local newspaper discovered the dress was from Tavioni and did an interview with her, prompting Government House to set the record straight lest anyone think the Solomon Islands had somehow been snubbed.

"Mrs. Kethie Saunders, when visiting the hotel room to leave flowers, chocolates and a basket of soap, decided on her own accord to leave a gift of clothes from the Cook Islands in the hotel room," said a statement. "We did not authorize her to leave the gifts of any sort in the hotel room."

The government also included this explanation from royal officials: "The reason the Duchess wore the dress was because she believed it to be from the Solomon Islands Government and thought it would be an appropriate gesture. Had she known they were from the Cook Islands and not the Solomon Islands it would not have been worn and she feels bad about the confusion."

Clarence House admitted there seemed to be plenty of confusion about the wardrobe snaufu.

"We saw they weren't the same design of the traditional clothes we were told would be gifted," a spokesperson told the Daily Mail. "So we checked with the Solomon Islands government to ensure the right ones were worn. We were reassured the clothes were correct, and so the Duke and Duchess wore them to the event.

"It was not learned until later in the evening that the clothes weren't from the islands. But it was understood that the Duke and Duchess intended to wear traditional Solomon Island clothes and this was appreciated. No offence was caused."

Yet another chapter for the 'It's Not Easy Being A Royal' book.

 

BBC quick to apologize for revealing Queen's concerns

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is seen addressing the sixth annual rally for Islam in London in 2002. The European Court of Human Rights on Monday gave final approval for the extradition of Abu Hamza , along with four other individuals, from the UK to the U.S. (Reuters)

The BBC was caught in full scramble mode on Tuesday after one of its senior correspondents talked about a private conversation he had with Queen Elizabeth.

Big deal, you say?

Well, in Britain at least, it is -- especially when the exchange involved the arrest and eventual extradition of radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who lost his final legal appeals on Monday.

On the BBC's Radio 4 Today program on Tuesday, security reporter Frank Gardner spoke about a conversation he had with the Queen in which she talked Abu Hamza, an Islamic extremist who used Britain as a base for his alleged terror activities, even though he called the country a "toilet."

Gardner (right) said the Queen was "upset that her country and its subjects were being denigrated by this man who was using this country as a platform for his very violent, hateful views."

He also said that she told him she had contacted the Home Secretary. “(The Queen) said, ‘surely this man must have broken some laws, my goodness, why is he still at large?’"

Gardner's revelations of the "off-the-record" conversation came a day after Abu Hamza lost his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against extradtion to the United States, where he is wanted in a plot to establish a jihadi training centre in Oregon and the kidnapping of western hostages in Yemen.

Abu Hamza -- who lost an eye and both hands in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan -- and four other terrorist suspects are expected to be deported within a few days after fighting extradition since 2004. Abu Hamza had been in a British prison for seven years after being convicted of terrorist activities.

Abu Hamza's loss in the appeals court on Monday was big news across the UK, prompting BBC's coverage on Tuesday morning with Gardner. He hardly off the air after talking about the case and the Queen's concerns before the BBC contacted Buckingham Palace without even being told.

Suddenly, the BBC apology to the Palace was even more important than the news that the Queen may have potentially been lobbying for Abu Hamza's arrest by the Home Office.

The network regretted the "breach of confidence," saying it was "wholly inappropriate" to talk about the private conversation.

"The conversation should have remained private and the BBC and Frank deeply regret this breach of confidence," said the BBC in a statement. "It was wholly inappropriate. Frank is extremely sorry for the embarrassment caused and has apologised to the Palace."

Others were quick to weigh in.

A Labour MP, Keith Vaz, told the BBC that the Queen's comments showed she was "deeply concerned" for her subjects. The Republic political group, meanwhile, saw Gardner's comments as a "PR stunt" to put the monarch "on the right side of public opinion."

The Palace, as always in these situations, refused comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Britons can't help but take a web peek at topless Kate

Even the thought of topless photos of Kate elicted howls of protest from Britons intent on protecting the image of their future Queen.

Based the latest poll , though, at least one in five Britons were quick to scour the web for those very images that no UK paper would dare touch. (Undoubtedly, the interest in the photos was purely scientific.)

The results of the YouGov poll of 1,600 UK residents, published in the Sun paper in London, revealed that a huge majority of Britons (72 per cent) backed Will and Kate's decision to sue Closer magazine over the photos taken at a private chateau in France.

On the other hand, natural curiousity has a pretty strong pull in cases like this ... the forbidden fruit, so to speak.

The pull is especially strong among the young in Britain. Almost half (47 per cent) of those 18-24 years old found the images online, and most of those were men (surprise!). Among 25-39-year-olds, that number was 32 per cent. The older the resident, the less likely they were to bother looking.

In other words, while Britain was busy wagging a collective finger at the French, Italians, Irish, Danes and Swedes -- with magazines in those countries publishing the offending photos --  a good swath of the British populace (1 in 5 overall) was using their other fingers to tap out Google searches.

The French gossip magazine Closer was the first to expose Kate, and since then it says it has received more than 300 "insulting emails, of which several contain death threats," the Telegraph reports. Only 300?

It's reported that one reader promised editor Laurence Pieau to "never let her stay in peace."

Some of the more threatening emails have been turned over to police, who continue their criminal investigation and search for the photographer. Closer says it does not own the photos and only bought first exclusive rights to them. It has also refused to name the paparazzo who pointed his long lens at Prince William and the Duchess sunbathing by the pool about 600 metres away.

And speaking of Kate, where has she been? After a hectic and eventful nine days in the constant spotlight during the royal tour of Asia and the South Pacific, she and William have gone back into their royal cocoon.

They were expected to appear at a wedding of one of Kate's childhood friends over the weekend in Bucklebury, the Middletons' home ground. Instead it was Kate's sister Pippa and mom Carole who carried the family banner, reports the Daily Mail.

Kate and the bride, Mary Bucknell, were buddies when they were part of the local Brownie pack as kids.

The Queen and Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol portraits of Queen Elizabeth will form part of the "Portraits of a Monarch" exhibit starting in November at Windsor Castle until June 2013. The a formal photograph of the Queen from 1977 (AP Photo)

The Queen is not quite Campbell Soup or Marilyn Monroe, but she was certainly interesting enough for the eclectic Andy Warhol tomake her one of his pop art subjects in 1985.

It took 27 years, but the Queen has now embraced Warhol's vision and is including his four multi-coloured portraits in an exhibit at Windsor Castle, titled "Portraits of a Monarch."

Warhol's screenprints of the Queen were based on her official photograph from the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.

It was the Royal Collection Trust which purchased the artwork, but Royal Librarian Jane Roberts said the Queen has approved the purchase of the prints from a special limited edition of 30.

"The Warhol prints of the Queen are in many ways the most important popular image of the queen to be created by an artist print maker over the last few decades," Roberts said.

Warhol's portraits was originially included in his "Reigning Queens" collection, which was made up of 16 portarits of four reigning Queens: Elizabeth, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Topless Kate adds to list of red-faced royals

Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visit Nauti Primary School in Tuvalu during their Diamond Jubilee tour last week, when topless photos of Kate were being published by several magazines. (Getty Images)

Well, no one said the Royal Family was perfect.

Just in case anyone thinks so, the royals have given us plenty of evidence to the contrary.

If they could turn back the clock, we’d imagine there would be lots of things they would give a second thought.

For instance, don’t doubt for a second that Duchess of Cambridge Kate would ever have taken off her bikini top at a semi-remote chateau in France. At least not until a pack of wild dogs had cleared any paparazzi within a 10-mile radius.

The ruckus that has followed with publication of the topless photos is unprecedented. Usually, the royals like to put these things behind them quickly. This will not be case here as Will and Kate have made it a criminal investigation in France.

Kate is not the first, nor dare we say the last, royal to be caught slightly red-faced -- and not just because she exposed more than that to the sun. So, just to make her feel a little more comfortable, we present a list of gotcha episodes where members of the family -- immediate and extended -- would have taken a different course if given the chance:

Prince Harry would skip the ‘Nazi’ aisle in the costume shop when looking for a something to wear to a party.

In 2005, the mischievous Harry was invited to a friend's "colonials and natives" costume party. For some reason, Harry thought that posing as Nazi, complete with swastika armband, would be appropriate. That thought didn't last long. The Sun tabloid printed a picture from the party that immediately sent the Palace into damage control. He issued a statement: "I am very sorry if I caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume, and I apologize." His brother William, by the way, was at the same party dressed as a lion. Good choice.

Prince Charles would check his phones for bugs before talking to Camilla about intimate products.

The recent phone-hacking scandal is nothing compared to what became known as Camilliagate in 1993. While Charles was still married to Princess Diana amid rumours of a marriage breakdown, he was the victim of an illegal recording of a call he made to his now-wife, Camilla. Part of the conversation included an exchange in which Charles said he'd like to be Camilla's tampon. Her reply: "You are a complete idiot ... oh, what a wonderful idea." At the time, most thought the first part of her remark to be spot on. Some say the Prince has never recovered from the episode, but, if nothing else, Charles has proven resilent.

 

Fergie would keep toe-sucking as an indoor sport.

In 1992, a few months after the Duchess of York separated from Prince Andrew, she was caught at a French resort in the company of an American businessman, John Bryan. She was topless and he was sucking on her toe. When the story and photos broke, she was with the Royal Family at Balmoral. Not for long, and the Queen has kept a polite distance from her over the years. Fergie's missteps continued long after she and Andrew split. In 2010, she was a victim of a sting operation by the now defunct News of the World, caught offering a reporter posing as a businessman cash for access to the prince. She later said she was "in the gutter" at the time. Despite all this, she and Andrew remain close.

 

Prince Philip would stick to prepared scripts on foreign trips.

He's over 90 now, so most people have given the Queen's husband a wide berth of forgiveness. But there was a time when the Palace was often scrambling to smoothe over remarks he made while on various royal tours. In 1996 in Beijing, he told some British exchange students: "If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed." In 2002 in Australia, he asked an indigenous businessman: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" In 1994, he asked a native of the Cayman Islands: "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" Philip never seems to apologize for remarks like this, at least publically. And his misguided witticisms haven't stopped. Several months ago, he asked a fellow in a mobility scotter if he had run over anybody.

 

Prince Andrew would check up on potential friends for previous sex offenses.

The Prince was enjoying a rather lucrative role as a special trade envoy for Britian. One of his American connections was billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he was seen with at parties. Epstein had served 18 months in prison for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Piled on top of the already growing file of Prince Andrew gaffes, including his free-spending ways on the taxpayer's dime, the royal had little choice than to step down from his role in 2011.

Pippa Middleton would pat down her travelling companions for weapons.

Okay, she's not strictly a royal, but Pippa Middleton has become entwined with her sister Kate's extended family. Her every move is dutifully recorded by paparazzi, including a trip to Paris in April, when she was partying with her friend Arthur de Soultrait. They were in a car being chased by photographers, Pippa in the front passenger seat, when the driver decided to give the photog a thrill by pulling out what looked like a real pistol and pointing it in his direction. The subsequent picture showed the gun and an amused Pippa. The rest of the Royal Family didn't see the joke and she was in the royal doghouse for a while, even after de Soultrait came to her defence and assured one and all it was joke with a toy pistol.

Mike Tindall would go say "no thanks" when asked to go to bar after a rugby game, thereby avoiding booze, an ex-girlfriend and closed-circuit televisions to record kisses on the noggin’.

The Queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, married rugby player Mike Tindall in July 2011. Just a few months later, Tindall was in New Zealand playing for Britain at the World Cup of Rugby. After a game, he went to a bar, got extremely drunk, and was seen in the company of a former girlfriend, who at one point kissed him on the head. His trouble was that it was all caught on camera, and soon seen by his new wife Zara, who hustled down to New Zealand. There was a definite chill in the air. In the wake of his first real experience of royal scandal coverage, Tindall was eventually disciplined by the English rugby union and then dropped from the team. Zara has been more forgiving.

Prince Harry would have a no-cellphone policy before getting naked with a bunch of girls in his hotel room.

We've all heard this story ... What Harry wants in Vegas, he gets in Vegas. But unfortunately for him it doesn't stay there. The prince is captured via cellphone camera in the buff with a young woman, apparently after a game of strip billiards, and the images make it to TMZ. The party in his suite included a dozen or more people, but his protection officers parked their authority at the door. Unlike the topless Kate controversy, Harry has taken no action, even when a British paper thumbed their nose at privacy guidelines and printed the photos after they had gone viral on the web.

Could all these episodes have all been avoided? That's a question the Queen must ask herself ... a lot.

 

Topless Kate case: Was it an inside job?

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, displayed a wide range of styles and fashion houses on her nine-day tour of Asia and South Pacific. It was what she was not wearing just before the tour began that has caused an uproar in Britain and magazines continue to publish topless photos.(GettyImages)

The case of the chateau shutterbug and the topless duchess gets a little more curious by the day.

French police are now checking out the possibility that the episode which has resulted in an explosion of topless photos of Kate was an 'inside job.' After all, someone leaked information about the couple's whereabouts, and even the inventive paparazzi might have needed some guidance about where to shoot the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should they choose to be out in the open.

"Officially, the crime scene is the chateau and its environs," a source told the Sun tabloid in London.

The photographer shot the offending photos on Sept. 5 from about 600 metres away on a public road outside the Chateau d'Autet, owned by the Queen's nephew Viscount Linley. If the phantom photographer is ever discovered, he faces up to a year in jail and a $57,000 (Cdn) fine. (Check out the scene of the crime below.)

Then again, perhaps he is not much of a phantom. One member of the paparazzi community, Pascal Rostain, says he knows exactly who took the topless photos of Kate. In fact, he claims, it was an Englishman living in the south of France.

That would be delicious irony for publications who have been criticized by British media and politicians  for publishing the topless photos.

Rostain says the photographer in question -- he won't reveal the name (even paparazzi have scruples apparently) -- was hired by Closer magazine, which was the first to publish the photos last week.

"For his efforts, he did not earn a lot," said Rostain. "He could have sold them for 10,000 euros. But in fact he was just paid wages for going to take them."

If that is true, then it potentially puts Closer in a difficult position, since that would mean they owned the copyright to the pictures, as opposed to the photographer retaining the rights. Under the terms of the injunction placed against Closer last week by a French court, they are not allowed to sell the photos to publications in other countries.

Since the photos came out in Closer last Friday, magazines in Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Italy have also published the pictures.

The intrigue will likely deepen before answers are found.

Where is Columbo or Hercule Poirot when you need them?

 

 

Some recommended reading (from the Scottish Daily Record): Prince William and Prince Harry need to face reality.

Kate's baby bump in magazine is strictly man-made

The Duchess of Cambridge may not only be the most photographed woman on the planet, she may well be the most photoshopped as well.

When the technology exists to alter reality, you can be sure it will be abused. No harm in that, except when you try to pass it off as reality.

It's a little game that the U.S. gossip magazine Star (absolutey no relation to this newspaper) is playing this week with with its sharp-eyed readers (without telling them of course). We have copied the magazine's cover above, next to a picture that was taken from the same angle and time at a reception in Singapore last week.

Wildly proclaiming, once again, that the Duchess is preganant (twins this time), the magazine used some clever manipulation to illustrate their point:

1) The picture has been flipped horizontally -- a no-no in most journalistic shops. You can tell that because in every authentic photo, the bracelet she is wearing is on her right wrist, not her left. And speaking of the left hand ...

2) It has suspiciously moved a lot closer to her body, which makes it fit the cover dimensions better and draw attention to the fact she drinks water (a sure sign of pregnancy). Her other hand, in the real world,  has her engagement ring on the third finger. That was a problem for Star when they flipped the picture, so they ...

3) Removed the ring from her finger. A pity, since the ring always draws attention to that hand, which is resting right where Star would want it ...

4) On her slightly bloated stomach, in which the phantom 'TWINS' are nesting. The Duchess seems to be without any tummy distress in the real photo.

Why the Star does this is clear ... more readers. Every publication wants to attracts attention. Nobody drew more attention than Closer magazine when they published photos of topless Kate. How does the Star top that? Easy. Just throw out another story on Kate being pregnant and 'marry' the two stories togetther with the clever headline: "Pregnant Kate gets thrilling news amid nude-photo uproar."

Brilliant. It is, of course, of no consequence that one would be hard-pressed to push the argument that she's pregnant with even a moment's glance at a grainy photo of the bikini-topless duchess.

We needn't pick only on Star when it comes to Photoshop.

Here are a few examples at left. The first is The New Republic's version of Kate with bad teeth. In this case, a clearly satirical look at the duchess as a way to illustrate the demise of the British economy.

Marie Claire decided in their South African edition to put Kate into one of the fashions by local designer Clive Rundle. The magazine was upfront with the readers about the manipulation, but still, it is a bit of fakery that treads on a very thin line of credibility.

One of the most famous examples of redesigning the duchess came from Grazia magazine after the royal wedding (left). Kate's arms moved and her waist trimmed to create exactly what the art director wanted for a fairytale cover. Alas, their ruse was discovered and, after public outcry, they apologized for the manipulation.

Of course, Kate is not the only one of the Royal Family who occasionally runs into the Photoshop buzzsaw.

Prince Charles had his turn a few months ago when he was pictured chasing a little girl blowing bubbles,(below). The photo was tweeted out mercilessly, but all in good fun. The awkward picture of a leering Charles was taken from a 2009 visit to Guernsey and flipped to resemble a chase. The image of the little girl has been recycled numerous times in the company of various celebrities to produce a humourous photo.

French police hunt for photographer as more magazines expose topless Kate

 

Prince William and Kate are carried from their plane to a welcoming ceremony on Tuesday in Tuvalu. The royal couple wound up their nine-day royal tour and returned to Britain on Wednesday. (Getty Images)

The topless photos of Kate have found their way into a few more corners of Europe as they continued to make news on several fronts Wednesday:

1) In France, police have begun the hunt at Closer magazine's offices for the unknown paparazzi who snapped the pictures of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge as they sunbathed at a French chateau on Sept. 5. The magazine also complied with a court order and handed over to the Royal Family all their files containing images of the couple from the offending shoot.

2) Two more magazines have joined the growing number of publications filling their pages with topless photos of the Duchess. Sweden's Se & Hor ("See and Here") published 11 photos over three pages on Wednesday, including one which shows her taking off her bikini bottom. Its sister publication in Denmark, Se & Hoer, has announced it will have a 16-page section in Thursday's princt edition that features the topless photos of the Duchess.

3) In a bit of innocent embarrassment, the Duchess has slight wardrobe malfunction. (details, video below).

The developments come as Prince William and Kate return to Britian from their nine-day tour of Asia and the South Pacific (right).

Detectives reportedly raided the offices of Closer magazine in Montrouge outside Paris at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, looking for information that could lead them to the photographer who snapped the pictures of William and Kate.

While early news reports characterized the police action as a raid, assistant prosecutor Marie-Christine Daubigney, denied it, saying she had only instructed police to get the names of some Closer employees, including the journalist who wrote the article.

The one big unanswered question in the controversy that has erupted over the photos is who took the pictures that have since been used in the Irish Daily Star, Itaty's Chi magazine and have been widely available via the web.

"The aim (of the raid) is to seize any information which might lead to the identity of the photographer," a police source told the Telegraph.

How far the police get with this tactic is debatable, since there are strict laws in France that protect journalistic sources.

One French photographer, Valerie Suau, has admitted she took photos from the suspected location about 600 metres from where the royals were by the chateau's swimming pool, but insisted she had no topless photos.

Meanwhile, Denmark and Sweden are getting its "exlusive" look at topless Kate.

"It is nothing new to us to publish nude photos of celebrities on holiday," said Carina Lofkvist, the chief editor of the Swedish magazine that hit newsstands Wednesday. She said she bought the pictures last Friday, when Closer hit the streets with the first set of top photos, from "photographers and photo agencies, the way we always do."

In Denmark, chief editor of Se & Hoer, Kim Henningsen, wrote on the magazine's website that "readers love to follow the lives of the royals and they want scoops."

"I am therefore incredibly proud that we have obtained the rights to provide the topless pictures of Britain’s future queen," she wrote, "which the whole world is talking about but very few have actually seen."

Henningsen said the magazine went through 240 pictures to gather their selection of 60 to 70, but would not divulge the price. The photos will only be available in the print edition of the celebrity magazine.

St. James's Palace would not comment about potential legal action, only saying that "proprotionate responses were under review."

In France, the royal couple won an injunction against the magazine on Tuesday that forbids Closer from reusing them in print or online. They also can't sell them to publications in other countries. Breaking the injunction would result in a fine of $158,000.

The French judge called the pictures a "brutal display" of the Duke and Duchess's private lives.

WINDY RECEPTION FOR KATE ... AND HER DRESS

 

The Duchess must have been relieved to finally get on a plane heading back home on Wednesday.

Sure, there was that nasty topless business to take care of, but at least she could heave a big sigh of relief that her nine-day tour with a giant corps of photographers capturing every moment resulted in not one single wardrobe malfunction.

Oops ... spoke too soon.

On the way back to London, the Prince and Duchess's plane stopped off in Brisbane, Australia, for a two-hour stay before catching a connecting flight to England.

Kate, wearing a summery Project D London dress, left the plane to head to a VIP lounge while she waited her flight. As she greeted a few people on the tarmac, she was clearly fighting a losing battle with her dress as the wind swirled about her. She finally wrestled it around her knees, but not before a wind-assisted déjà-vu moment.

It was on an airport tarmac in Calgary in July 2011 that Kate first discovered that Mother Nature can be unforgiving to light-weight dresses on duchesses (right).

She obviously hadn't learned her lesson. And it was all caught on video (above) and by at least one quick-snapping Down Under photographer.

After disappearing into the airport terminal, it seems Kate finally figured out a surefire way to beat the wind gods at airports.

When she emerged to board the flight for the last leg to London, she had changed into jeans and a white top.