When does it become an invasion of privacy when you're in the public eye

Do you think the Royal family should be able to sue the French magazine over taking nude pics of Kate?


The Privacy Shot Between Kate's Topless Shots and Harry's Nude Pics

Some telling privacy distinctions emerged as a French tabloid published photos of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless on a guesthouse terrace in Provence.

No major British publication published the photos Friday – not even The Sun, which last month splashed photos of a nude Prince Harry partying in a Las Vegas hotel room on its front page.

It seems Harry was fair game because he was prancing naked among the (cell phone-wielding) strangers he’d invited to his hotel room. Meanwhile, the images of Kate’s sunbathing ritual on a “remote” property – including Will applying sunscreen to her thonged-rear end – have been widely slammed as an invasion of privacy.

Now, Prince William and his wife have launched a lawsuit against Closer, the French magazine, for breaching their right to privacy, according to AFP.

In France, where the shots were taken, “magistrates take into account the victim’s behaviour, when the person is flaunting themselves on camera. Kate Middleton will get damages because she’s not behaving in this way,” an expert in French media law told AP.

Last month, a Paris judge ordered the weekly tabloid VSD to pay Valérie Trierweiler €2,000 euros for breaching her privacy and image rights when they published a photograph of the French First Lady in a bikini on the French Riviera. Here, the judge ruled the image was neither “necessary for legitimate public information” nor “harmless.”

Beyond privacy, Trierweiler and Middleton’s cases raise the possibility of a gendered element to the uproar: Would people be as incensed were it Will’s rump on the cover of the French tab?

Globe commenters were divided, but one posited this unsettling scenario: “This is invasion of privacy. This is what the monarchy have to put up with along with movie stars. ... That camera lens could just as easily be a rifle scope lens.”

(Reps from The Mail said photos of the Duchess were snapped using cameras with extremely long lenses, meaning no British newspaper will be publishing them.)

Other readers brushed it off, suggesting the younger Royals are simply “naturalists.” “Who cares? Everybody is topless in Europe,” wrote another.

St. James Palace issued its own terse statement, describing the incident as “grotesque and totally unjustifiable.”


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/the-privacy-distinction-between-kates-topless-shots-and-harrys-nude-pics/article4545213/

I think the Royal Couple, oh heck, ANYBODY, should be left the heck alone when they're on private property.

That being said, knowing the press and recent events, I wouldn't be sunbathing topless. Ok, well, the likelihood of me sunbathing topless at ANY time would be pretty well nil, LOL.

I think when it comes to people who are and are not in the public eye, they do deserve their privacy. With that said, she is a Duchess and should conduct herself accordingly. If she wanted to sunbath topless, then don't do it on a balcony facing a public road. There wasn't even any fencing on this property, it was wide open for all public to see. But then majority of me thinks, their just boobies, what's the big deal. lol I think the Royal family is making a mountain out of a mole hill with this. Had the paparazzi been chasing them down, climbing over a fence to take photos, etc.. Then yes, they should be sued.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't a calculated move on the "Royals" part. Mere weeks after Harry's little... indiscretion? Could it be they want a clear privacy ruling from the courts through their lawsuit, not an edict from the throne? Harry's... event was in a pseudo public place and he was drinking. Duchess of Cambridge (Royal by Marriage) showing her boobs really is kind of tame by comparison, isn't it? And they were on a patio (part of a home, I assume?) on private property. The photographer had a really good telephoto lens. That seems like just a step sideways to getting a picture through a window, doesn't it?