London, Aug. 22: British newspapers have decided not to publish, for the time being at least, photographs of Prince Harry and an unidentified woman naked in a hotel suite in Las Vegas even though the nude pictures are widely available on the Net.
The photographs, taken on Friday, first appeared und have now been copied across the world.
Clarence House, which acts on behalf of the royal family, moved quickly to confirm the blurred images were indeed those of Prince Harry, 27, third in line to the throne. British newspapers were asked not to carry the pictures and all have agreed, at least, for now.
With Lord Justice Leveson due to pronounce judgment on the limits of press intrusion into the lives of ordinary members of the public, even British tabloids are on their best behaviour. His inquiry is examining media ethics following systematic hacking of phones mainly by journalists on the now defunct News of the World.er an "Exclusive" tag on an American celebrity website, TMZ, but
It seems highly unlikely, however, that British papers will exercise restraint indefinitely. The normal tabloid technique would be to publish the pictures alongside a story which takes the fun-loving younger brother of Prince William to task for embarrassing the royal family.
It would be along the lines of, "Exclusive! Shocking pictures!", and "We didn't want to publish these pictures but we do so ' reluctantly ' to prove how truly shocking they are."
Prince Harry represented the Queen at the Olympics closing ceremony when he was seated in a VVIP section with the Duchess of Cambridge, the Prime Minister and London mayor Boris Johnson. He was also sent on a successful tour of the Caribbean earlier this year when he, again, represented the Queen in her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
In Jamaica, he was photographed clowning around with Usain Bolt. At the weekend he swam in Las Vegas with US gold medallist Ryan Lochte before inviting a bevy of beauties up to his suite to play some kind of game which involved him and the young women to strip naked.
The Huffington Post website ensured the latest images of Prince Harry have the widest possible circulation by including the "come on" tag: "WARNING: The photos below contain near full-frontal nudity and may not be safe for viewing at work."
The website TMZ, which specialises in celebrity exclusives ' it broke the story about Michael Jackson's death ' published the nude photographs and explained what did not need explaining: "Prince Harry put the crown jewels on display in Vegas this weekend... getting BARE ASS NAKED during a game of strip billiards with a room full of friends in his VIP suite."
Adding "it all went down Friday night during a raging party in a high rollers hotel suite", it went on: "We're told Harry, along with a large entourage, went down to the hotel bar and met a bunch of hot chicks ... and invited them up to his VIP suite. Once in the room, things got WILD... with the group playing a game of strip pool that quickly escalated into full-on royal nudity. Some of the partiers snapped photos of the madness. In one photo, a fully nude Harry cups his genitals while a seemingly topless woman stands behind him."
It said: "In another photo, a naked Harry is bear-hugging a woman who appears to be completely naked as well. No word on who the women are... or if they got Harry's phone number."
The Guardian explained why British papers have so far avoided using the pictures: "Clarence House confirmed that the grainy mobile phone pictures, taken in Las Vegas and published online by TMZ early on Wednesday, UK time, are genuine, but declined to comment further. However, royal aides are understood to have moved quickly to warn British media organisations not to republish the embarrassing photographs."
It said: "British newspapers have published numerous pictures of Harry's trip to Las Vegas this week, where he has been seen partying with the US Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte."
It remarked: "The publication of the photographs marks a new level of media intrusion into the lives of the royal family. Royal aides suggested that Clarence House may contact the Press Complaints Commission if the pictures are used by British publications. The PCC declined to confirm whether it had been contacted by Clarence House."
The Guardian also pointed out: "Each of the major British newspapers chose not to use them in online stories by late on Wednesday, although they were published by the Ireland-based Westminster gossip blog, Guido Fawkes. The reticence of the British media is likely to be interpreted by some in the industry as further evidence of a chilling effect caused by the Leveson inquiry into media ethics."
It also emphasised: "Tabloid executives, including The Sun editor Dominic Mohan and the Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke, have complained to the inquiry that they could be forced out of business if they are unable to publish material that is put online by media organisations in other countries and widely available on the Internet."
News of the World's former showbiz editor Dan Wooton, who now works for the Daily Mail and Now magazine, tweeted: "We're in the crazy situation where millions of people in UK will see Harry nude pics online, but UK newspapers might be unable to print them."
These images will define Prince Harry for decades to come, though the reaction of the common man or woman in the street will probably be:
He is a just a young man having a bit of fun
Relief he isn't gay
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