prince harry naked photos ban headache british press - It’s hard to think of a picture more well-suited to the British tabloids than a young prince being caught with a woman in Las Vegas, wearing only his birthday suit. But after a warning from royal officials through the Press Complaints Commission about running pictures of Prince Harry partying in Las Vegas — already seen by millions on the Internet — Britain’s normally-cheeky newspapers have bowed to authority and not one has dared showing the prince not wearing any clothes.
It’s a remarkable about-face for the U.K. tabloids considering almost 20 years ago, Sarah Ferguson, then wife of Britain’s Prince Andrew, was featured on the front page of one paper, topless, having her toes sucked by a U.S. lover.
But for the British public hungry to lap up details of Prince Harry’s wild weekend, it made for a slow nudes day Thursday.
While several papers went with the Prince Harry story on their cover, not a single one dared to run the actual photos.
British media lawyer Mark Stephens says legal precedent is on Prince Harry’s side as the media needs to be able to prove there’s a public interest in invading a person’s privacy.
Prince Harry had a reasonable expectation of privacy when dropping his royal drawers, even at a party, because he was in his hotel room, Stephens told the National Post.
“Following precedent . . . the pictures can’t really be published without pressing public interest,” he said, adding a young man partying in Vegas shouldn’t meet that qualification.
“The media won’t break the law unless it has to. (They have) been able to tell the tale of the photographs without the necessity of showing the actual images.”
The photo ban did directly led to one inspiring tabloid cover.
The Sun reenacted one of the Prince Harry nude photos with its own staffer, complete with a naked woman (a go-getting intern) hugging him from behind, under the headline: “Harry grabs the crown jewels.”
However, the paper was forced to issue a denial that it pressured the intern (21-year-old Sophie Henderson) into posing for the picture.
“For anyone worried about whether we were forced against our will to strip off, we are pleased to be able to set the record straight. Please be assured, there is no cover-up at Wapping. It was a bit of harmless fun and we were delighted to have played our part in making the readers laugh,” Henderson and pictures editor Harry Miller (who played Prince Harry in the photo) said in a joint statement.
It’s a remarkable about-face for the U.K. tabloids considering almost 20 years ago, Sarah Ferguson, then wife of Britain’s Prince Andrew, was featured on the front page of one paper, topless, having her toes sucked by a U.S. lover.
But for the British public hungry to lap up details of Prince Harry’s wild weekend, it made for a slow nudes day Thursday.
While several papers went with the Prince Harry story on their cover, not a single one dared to run the actual photos.
British media lawyer Mark Stephens says legal precedent is on Prince Harry’s side as the media needs to be able to prove there’s a public interest in invading a person’s privacy.
Prince Harry had a reasonable expectation of privacy when dropping his royal drawers, even at a party, because he was in his hotel room, Stephens told the National Post.
“Following precedent . . . the pictures can’t really be published without pressing public interest,” he said, adding a young man partying in Vegas shouldn’t meet that qualification.
“The media won’t break the law unless it has to. (They have) been able to tell the tale of the photographs without the necessity of showing the actual images.”
The photo ban did directly led to one inspiring tabloid cover.
The Sun reenacted one of the Prince Harry nude photos with its own staffer, complete with a naked woman (a go-getting intern) hugging him from behind, under the headline: “Harry grabs the crown jewels.”
However, the paper was forced to issue a denial that it pressured the intern (21-year-old Sophie Henderson) into posing for the picture.
“For anyone worried about whether we were forced against our will to strip off, we are pleased to be able to set the record straight. Please be assured, there is no cover-up at Wapping. It was a bit of harmless fun and we were delighted to have played our part in making the readers laugh,” Henderson and pictures editor Harry Miller (who played Prince Harry in the photo) said in a joint statement.
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