Kate Middleton and the press

17 January 2010

The Royal Family request for more privacy over Christmas in particular has had better success than in the past, in light mainly of the judgements under the Human Rights Act and the (related?) newspaper editors' code of practice which offers protection to those seeking a 'a reasonable expectation of privacy'.

Clause 4 of the press watchdog's (the Press Complaints Comission or PCC) Code of Practice, under the category of harassment, states: 'Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit'.

If the Royal family were to take legal action it could be for breach of privacy, or under the Protection from Harassment Act of 1997.

Kate Middleton settled a complaint against the Daily Mirror in April 2007 over a close-up of her. At the time the Press Complaints Commission added that it wanted to remind editors of the need to refrain from using photos when the subject has asked the photographer to stop taking pictures and when there is no obvious public interest for persisting. This was all at the time that Prince William and Middleton had split up, temporarily it now seems. Jack Straw condemned paparazzi harassment of Kate Middleton as 'appalling'.

The tennis photos in question were allegedly taken from a private footpath.

It is not all bad news for Ms Middleton however, as a internet quick search reveals a presumably acceptable 2009 picture of her in a bikini with Prince William on a boat in Mustique, the Caribbean island, for the second break in a month. Ms Middleton and the second-in-line to the throne were staying at a five-bedroom cliff top villa costing £2,000 a night.

Suppressing photographs of tennis playing may be considered to be a surprising move after Ms Middleton was unable to suppress photographs of her 'wardrobe malfunction' climbing out of a car to go to Bouji's in October 2007. It appears that the reins of the press are indeed held back, for the Royal Family, and those connected, at least.

Tim Mount is a trainee solicitor at Lawdit, contactable at tim.mount@lawdit.co.uk