Ingrid Seward's piece in the Daily Mail today:
The simple question is: How could the Duchess have been so daft?
She is not Kate Moss. She is Kate Middleton. And, as our future Queen, I’m afraid we expect her to use a bit more common sense.
Even though she’s young and beautiful and no doubt eager to get an all-over tan, we expect her never to put herself in a position where she loses her dignity.
That means there is absolutely no room for risk-taking. And that means not lying semi-naked on a pool terrace a thousand yards from a public road in a country with the most ruthless paparazzi in the world.
Quite simply, this ghastly situation should never have happened. And only two people could have stopped it. The Duke and Duchess themselves.
I know I may sound harsh. It may sound unfair. But Kate isn’t like the rest of us. And, with his long experience of the foreign press – and particularly in light of his mother’s experiences – William should have advised her better.
This, after all, was a classic situation that we have seen all too many times before when young members of the Royal Family go abroad and let their guard down.
Coming just weeks after Prince Harry was photographed naked, cavorting with young women during a game of strip-billiards in a Las Vegas hotel room,
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...en-allowed-paparazzi-close.html#ixzz26WBbRrlu
Aardvark154: I agree with you that it was a invasion of privacy both in a civil and criminal sense to take and then publish the photos in regards to French law. Not so sure about in the U.S. as they are A-list celebrities, were not indoors, and the photographer was on public property not in their backyard trespassing. However, as you said, civil action in the U.S. may have got a big reward even if it was not a criminal act. Still, we are talking about France, and celebrities are not legally fair game there.
Personally I think Kate and William, with their experience, should not have been nude outdoors. These photos are only topless, but the magazine said it has others that are intimate and fully nude. If it were me, right after the Harry nude pics scandal, I would have kept the swimsuit on while outdoors by the pool. Do I swim nude in my fenced in pool in Florida? Yes, sometimes. The closest people to my backyard pool are 300 ft away, and there is a hedge. Still, nobody cares to take and publish photos of me. If I were an A-list celebrity I would not swim naked in my pool, even if I wanted to. Gilded cage and all - but you can never be sure a camera isn't turned on you if a nude pic of you can earn a photographer $100k. If they bugged their bedroom with a hidden camera in the air vent I would say let the swine hang, but outdoors taken from the highway is not in that league. I guess it boils down to 'they should be able to do whatever they want' clashing with 'should they do whatever they want with the risks involved?' Ingrid's piece is a bit harsh, but I think there were three failures here:
1) Kate and William - Kate for thinking it was okay to go outside nude right after the Harry nude scandal, and William for not advising her to cover up with all his knowledge of the photographers from the Diana years.
2) The security services. Fresh from the Harry fiasco they should have patrolled the property better. The advisers should have advised against being naked outdoors by the pool. I do not think the Secret Service would have let a long lens photographer (or sniper) take such a clear position next to a road with a clear line of sight on the house pool while the subjects were sitting in the open, esp unclothed. Yes, 1 km away, but with such a good line and public road access that is the kind of spot that Secret Service level security would watch.
3) The magazine publisher. UK papers were offered topless pics of Kate too, and turned them down. The French publisher knowingly broke the law not in the public interest but to profit from breaking the law. The royal couple are trying to set an example that the large task that will one day be on their heads will be honoured, while at the same time enjoying being newlyweds. It was cruel to publish those pictures and humiliate them when they are really trying to do the job asked of them. It is mean, pure and simple, in addition to the legalities. So mean and illegal.
I hope the publisher gets to spend some time in jail. There is plenty of bad judgement to go around, but the publisher bears the most responsibility for this, and I hope she (the publisher) is punished.
The publisher of Closer magazine France.
The simple question is: How could the Duchess have been so daft?
She is not Kate Moss. She is Kate Middleton. And, as our future Queen, I’m afraid we expect her to use a bit more common sense.
Even though she’s young and beautiful and no doubt eager to get an all-over tan, we expect her never to put herself in a position where she loses her dignity.
That means there is absolutely no room for risk-taking. And that means not lying semi-naked on a pool terrace a thousand yards from a public road in a country with the most ruthless paparazzi in the world.
Quite simply, this ghastly situation should never have happened. And only two people could have stopped it. The Duke and Duchess themselves.
I know I may sound harsh. It may sound unfair. But Kate isn’t like the rest of us. And, with his long experience of the foreign press – and particularly in light of his mother’s experiences – William should have advised her better.
This, after all, was a classic situation that we have seen all too many times before when young members of the Royal Family go abroad and let their guard down.
Coming just weeks after Prince Harry was photographed naked, cavorting with young women during a game of strip-billiards in a Las Vegas hotel room,
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...en-allowed-paparazzi-close.html#ixzz26WBbRrlu
Aardvark154: I agree with you that it was a invasion of privacy both in a civil and criminal sense to take and then publish the photos in regards to French law. Not so sure about in the U.S. as they are A-list celebrities, were not indoors, and the photographer was on public property not in their backyard trespassing. However, as you said, civil action in the U.S. may have got a big reward even if it was not a criminal act. Still, we are talking about France, and celebrities are not legally fair game there.
Personally I think Kate and William, with their experience, should not have been nude outdoors. These photos are only topless, but the magazine said it has others that are intimate and fully nude. If it were me, right after the Harry nude pics scandal, I would have kept the swimsuit on while outdoors by the pool. Do I swim nude in my fenced in pool in Florida? Yes, sometimes. The closest people to my backyard pool are 300 ft away, and there is a hedge. Still, nobody cares to take and publish photos of me. If I were an A-list celebrity I would not swim naked in my pool, even if I wanted to. Gilded cage and all - but you can never be sure a camera isn't turned on you if a nude pic of you can earn a photographer $100k. If they bugged their bedroom with a hidden camera in the air vent I would say let the swine hang, but outdoors taken from the highway is not in that league. I guess it boils down to 'they should be able to do whatever they want' clashing with 'should they do whatever they want with the risks involved?' Ingrid's piece is a bit harsh, but I think there were three failures here:
1) Kate and William - Kate for thinking it was okay to go outside nude right after the Harry nude scandal, and William for not advising her to cover up with all his knowledge of the photographers from the Diana years.
2) The security services. Fresh from the Harry fiasco they should have patrolled the property better. The advisers should have advised against being naked outdoors by the pool. I do not think the Secret Service would have let a long lens photographer (or sniper) take such a clear position next to a road with a clear line of sight on the house pool while the subjects were sitting in the open, esp unclothed. Yes, 1 km away, but with such a good line and public road access that is the kind of spot that Secret Service level security would watch.
3) The magazine publisher. UK papers were offered topless pics of Kate too, and turned them down. The French publisher knowingly broke the law not in the public interest but to profit from breaking the law. The royal couple are trying to set an example that the large task that will one day be on their heads will be honoured, while at the same time enjoying being newlyweds. It was cruel to publish those pictures and humiliate them when they are really trying to do the job asked of them. It is mean, pure and simple, in addition to the legalities. So mean and illegal.
I hope the publisher gets to spend some time in jail. There is plenty of bad judgement to go around, but the publisher bears the most responsibility for this, and I hope she (the publisher) is punished.
The publisher of Closer magazine France.
