Kate Middleton: Darling Duchess or CLOSER to Page 3?!

Fifteen years and apparently nothing has changed. I’m talking about the intrusive invasion of royal privacy that has been particularly prominent this summer. Diana, Princess of Wales suffered infamous amounts […]


Fifteen years and apparently nothing has changed. I’m talking about the intrusive invasion of royal privacy that has been particularly prominent this summer. Diana, Princess of Wales suffered infamous amounts of public attention which many hold responsible for her untimely death in 1997. However, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge continue to legally pursue their recent matter of exposure, the question remains….Is it possible to put a stop to these incidents?

William and Kate were enjoying a private break in France earlier this month when a rumoured to be British photographer for the French magazine Closer snapped the Duchess sunbathing in all her glory, i.e. topless (gasp). The images were splashed across the magazine’s front cover on Monday, provoking royal (and national) uproar as to the publication’s rights to share the somewhat ‘indecent’ pictures of the usually demure Miss Middleton.

The incident obviously holds repercussions to Prince Harry’s similar public exposure which saw The Sun publish images of the Apache helicopter pilot playing ‘strip billiards’ in a hotel room in Las Vegas.

Both circumstances raise the debate over the extent to which the public should know about the private goings-on of the Royal Family; however Kate’s betrayal appears to have provoked a more furious reaction due to the intrusive nature of the matter. Harry’s photos were leaked via an insider, a member of the ‘party’ that night. Yet Kate was photographed unknowingly from a distance, a somehow more sinister violation of her privacy.

The royal couple have now won legal rights to the images, preventing the magazine from reproducing them and winning damage costs, however as the pictures are online it seems this is an almost pointless action as anyone with an internet connection can access them. In defence of the journalist responsible for the violation of Kate’s modesty, Closer editor Laurence Pieau insisted that

These photos are not in the least shocking. They show a young woman sunbathing topless, like millions of women you see on beaches’.

This is, of course, a totally ineffective comment which refuses to acknowledge Kate Middleton as one of the most famous and watched women in the world. We are all used to seeing the common celebrity victim to such invasions of privacy however there’s something much more destructive about viewing royalty this way. Their status and power seems to create a shield depicting them as immune to these kinds of exposure so that when incidences like this do occur, they seem all the more shocking.

So should more effort be made to protect the royals from these uncharacteristic insights into their personal affairs? Or do they need to be more careful what they do and when? Obviously how they behave publicly is of great importance as members of the British monarchy but should this deny them a life entirely private to this? I think not. We don’t need to know when and where they take their clothes off or do any other excruciatingly normal tasks as long as they’re doing a good job in representing the nation, right?

As always, we’d love to hear your views. Comment below and let’s see what you have to say!