Prince Harry’s naked romp with a fetching girl during a party in his Las Vegas suite will see the light of day in Great Britain after all. Despite threats of legal action by Prince Charles, London tabloid The Sun will print the photo in Friday’s edition.
David Dinsmore, The Sun’s managing editor, said the decision wasn’t an easy one, but came down to a matter of freedom of the press. The photos are available worldwid through U.S. gossip site TMZ and other U.S. Web sites.
Lawyers representing Harry’s father, Prince Charles, and the royal family threatened to sue any publication for invasion of privacy, if they published photos of a nude Prince Harry taken with an equally nude woman at his party.
Some unpublished photos reportedly show Harry full-frontal, exposing his genitals. It’s unknown whether the paper will print those or milder photos with Harry covering his private parts.
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The palace has already confirmed that the photos are authentic. They were taken by an unknown individual with a camera phone in Harry’s suite at the Wynn Hotel and Casino, during a raucous early morning party. Harry’s vacation was not an official duty.
“For us this is about the freedom of the press,” said Dinsmore in a video statement on the paper’s Web site.
“This is about the ludicrous situation where a picture can be seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world on the Internet but can’t be seen in the nation’s favorite paper read by eight million people every day,” he continued.
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“This is about our readers getting involved in the discussion with the man who is third in line to the throne – it’s as simple as that.”
The UK has much stricter press laws than the United States, regarding privacy. In the U.S., people in the public eye, such as elected officials and celebrities have very little right to privacy.
A palace spokesman reminded newspapers that it’s feelings have been made known, according to the BBC.
Not all of the publicity about Harry’s antics has been bad. Although the royal family is said to be perturbed, public reaction in Great Britain has been supportive and even encouraging of the lad’s behavior.