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OpinionPrince & Princess of Wales

Why the press should be ashamed of themselves for publishing voyouristic Prince George pictures

As we all know, the Duke and Duchess are very protective over their children’s privacy, and so they should be! As of late, Kensington Palace have issues many warnings to the media about publishing photos of Prince George and Princess Charlotte to protect their privacy and family life. So it may be surprising to some (or unsurprising to others) that certain publications have decided to plaster the young children’s image all over their newspaper front pages with an accompanying full page spread inside.

Royal Central has of course taken the decision not to publish these photographs under any circumstances, because why would we? It becomes something of voyeurism when the press (and everyday citizens) take pictures of one and three-year-old children playing in a park.

I understand that people want to see the royal children grow up and watch them develop, however, this can be done without invading their privacy. Kensington Palace often release images of the young royals, most recently at the end of April to mark Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. The fact that these pictures are being published also poses a much wider problem that needs to be tackled. It is obvious that these type of pictures make huge amounts of money for the person who takes the photograph, so some are going to extreme measures to attempt to get the money-shot using extremely disturbing tactics.

You might remember a few months ago when it was revealed that certain photographers have been using techniques including having ‘decoy children’ lure Prince George into the camera lens. The press also hid outside of playgrounds and followed palace staff around in order to get snaps of Prince George.

How stupid and dangerous!

It doesn’t matter whether the children are in their back garden, or out playing in a public park, when will people realise taking pictures of children without the parents’ consent is wrong?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have recently expressed their gratitude to the British press for not publishing unauthorised pictures of their children. With the pictures published in recent weeks however, one feels the mood at Kensington Palace is changing.

The more unauthorised pictures are published, the more hidden George and Charlotte will become. This will mean there will be less official photographs of the children, and the relationship between the press and the royals will get even worse.

There will be people who disagree with me, arguing that if somebody is in a public place they should expect to be photographed, but is that really true? Maybe so for well known celebrities, but the Royal Family are not celebrities, particularly not the children.

I am interested to see what the reaction will be to these pictures being published in the UK. One is for certain though. It is stalker-type behaviour, it is voyeurism and it is plain wrong!

Let us know your thoughts; comment below and voice your opinion!

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