Naked photos of prince cause media uproar

Most ladies would guess that Henry Charles Albert David Wales, aged 27, a British army officer better known as Prince Harry, was a well set-up young man.

Last week they had their chance to confirm it when photos of the naked prince appeared all over the Internet, and eventually in a British tabloid.

The resultant furore combined all the elements of the sort of top-level scandal the British love: outrage and indignation (genuine and synthetic), cynicism, laughter, derision
and multi-level hypocrisy.

The prince, known for his mischievous and fun-loving character, was in Las Vegas on leave from his duties as a lieutenant in the Household Cavalry, when he attended a party playing what is known as strip billiards, a frolic which involves the participants in losing all or most of their clothing.

An unidentified woman party-goer used her mobile phone to take two shots of the prince, which she sold to an American celebrity TV channel.

One photo showed Harry with a topless woman behind him, the other apparently bear-hugging a naked woman. The prince is laughing and there is no evidence of sex play.

A statement from St James’ Palace said Harry “was letting off steam in California before returning to his public duties”.

Within hours, the photos were being published worldwide and viewed repeatedly in cyberspace. But in Britain, the print media were cautious.

Newspapers here have been circumspect about their behaviour following public hearings by the Leveson inquiry.

This body was set up to investigate the ethics and practices of the Press stemming from a widespread phone-hacking scandal which resulted in criminal charges against several senior journalists and which led to Rupert Murdoch closing his Sunday paper, the News of the World.

Although the News of the World was the most widely involved in this activity, reporters from a number of media outlets disseminated intimate stories about the lives of
celebrities – singers, actors, politicians – after hacking into their mobile phones and listening to and reading messages.

Lord Justice Leveson is currently preparing his recommendations for future conduct of news organs. Editors, fearful of draconian restrictions, have recently displayed unusual discretion in the reporting of personal stories.

However on August 17, the front page of The Sun, Britain’s top selling daily tabloid, printed a photo of the prince, declaring:

“Pic of naked Harry you’ve already seen on the Internet.” Managing editor David Dinsmore said it would have been “perverse” not to publish photos “which are now in the public domain in every country in the world”.

He also argued that there was a public interest element in publishing the photos, a contention that was derided by the Sun’s competitors, one of whom said:

“Once you know what Harry has done, is there anything added in terms of public interest by actually seeing the pictures?”

Most papers said they declined to publish because the photos breached the prince’s privacy.

The institution set up in Britain to guide the media is the Press Complaints Commission which, it has long been argued by critics of Press behaviour, is toothless and lacks powers to sanction or restrain culprits.

It is the possibility that Lord Leveson will recommend draconian powers for the Commission that makes most newspapers nervous.

After the Sun published the prince’s photos, the Commission announced that it had received more than 850 complaints from the public, though none had come from Prince Harry or from Queen Elizabeth.

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Last week, this column raved against the pressures of retail trading in Britain, where we go shopping for “improved” versions of perfectly acceptable items, for goods which we used to make or grow ourselves, and for articles we don’t really need anyway.

Zephania from Embu writes that it’s much the same in Kenya, where he blames aggressive marketing and that form of consumer aspiration known as “keeping up with the Joneses”.

The trouble is that in seeking for superior status, people abandon the good things of the past without ever reaching their targeted social level.

Says Zephania: “Go to a supermarket in Nairobi and note who pushes the trolley full of fast foods and junk foods, accompanied by an obese toddler or teenager. They are not from the upper class. They are the pretenders to the throne.”

The customer is no longer king, the marketer is king. The customer no longer knows what he wants, the marketer tells him.

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Mike goes to his pastor and says, “Reverend, you have to help me. I’m sure my wife is trying to feed me poison in my soup.”

“No, no,” says the priest, “you must be mistaken. Tell you what, I’ll go round to your house and speak to her.”

A long time later, the reverend returns. “Michael,” he says, “I have just spent four hours in your wife’s company and I think you are right – she is trying to poison you.”

“But what can I do, Father?” Said the priest, “Michael, drink the soup!”

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