Earlier this year, after the birth of new baby, Princess Charlotte, Kensington Palace released a letter asking for the young family to be given space and privacy.
Despite this request the family have still been subjected to paparazzi scrutiny according to a new letter published on the palace website yesterday.
Jason Knauf, Communications Secretary, writes:
“The Duke and Duchess are glad that leaders in the media industry share the view that every child, regardless of their future public role, deserves a safe, happy, and private childhood. They have been delighted to share official photographs of Prince George and Princess Charlotte in recent months to thank the public for the thousands of kind messages of support they have received. News photographers have had several recent opportunities to take photos of the family and these will be a regular occurrence as both children get older.”
“Despite this, paparazzi photographers are going to increasingly extreme lengths to observe and monitor Prince George’s movements and covertly capture images of him to sell to the handful of international media titles still willing to pay for them. One recent incident – just last week – was disturbing, but not at all uncommon. A photographer rented a car and parked in a discreet location outside a children’s play area. Already concealed by darkened windows, he took the added step of hanging sheets inside the vehicle and created a hide stocked with food and drinks to get him through a full day of surveillance, waiting in hope to capture images of Prince George. Police discovered him lying down in the boot of the vehicle attempting to shoot photos with a long lens through a small gap in his hide.”
The letter also details other extreme lengths photographers have gone to in attempts to snap the future king including using “other children to draw Prince George into view around playgrounds”.
The letter has been sent to leading media outlets to further public discussion of this issue.
Main image: Getty
